Abstract
An immunological approach to the treatment of cancer has many theoretical features to commend it. There should be specificity, so that tumour cells alone are destroyed whilst normal tissues are unaffected. Provided the tumour is uniform and all of the cells have appropriate antigens, every malignant cell should be destroyed and even distant metastases dealt with. So far these speculative advantages are unfulfilled and the initial optimism that surrounded immunotherapy has not been sustained. Acceptance of the precepts of tumour immunology continues but these disappointing observations had led to increasing scrutiny of certain aspects. The purpose of this chapter is to review the principles which underly tumour immunology and immunotherapy, so that the more detailed studies that follow can be considered in perspective.
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Castro, J.E. (1978). An overview of tumour immunology and immunotherapy. In: Castro, J.E. (eds) Immunological Aspects of Cancer. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9418-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9418-4_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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