CYTOTOXIC T-LYMPHOCYTES AND THE RECOGNITI ON OF TUMOR-ANTIGENS - AN APPROACH TO ANTITUMOR VACCINES

In spite of modifications of the intra- and postoperative therapeutic strategy as well as new adjuvant protocols, most malignant diseases ha ve a poor prognosis, This demonstrates the need for new approaches in tumor therapy, One alternative is adoptive immunotherapy (AIT), AIT is based on the observation that cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) may be ge nerated with the ability to lyse autologous tumor cells in vitro and i n vivo, Aim of current research activities is to determine specific tu morantigens and the clinical applicability of cell-mediated immunother apy The immunobiology of the cell-mediated immune response to cancer w ith focus on major-histocompatibility complex class I and CD8(+) T cel ls is reviewed, Recent advances in the identification of tumor-associa ted and tumor-specific antigens were summarized, Previously performed clinical studies were reviewed, We examined the implications that the discovery of theses antigenes might have on the development of new ant icancer vaccines.