THE MOLECULAR-BASIS OF CANCER-IMMUNOTHERAPY BY CYTOTOXIC T-LYMPHOCYTES

The disappointing clinical results of cancer immunotherapy of the past few decades have not diminished the optimism about the potential of t he new generation of immunotherapeutic strategies towards treatment of malignant disease. Tremendous progress has been made over recent year s in unveiling the molecular basis of antigen presentation and recogni tion by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). The molecular concepts that hav e emerged from these studies have led to the design of novel anticance r vaccines and CTL-based immunotherapeutics. This review is to highlig ht the current molecular insights of antigen presentation and CTL reco gnition/activation, and their impact on the rational design of therape utic interventions that may result in protective, CTL-based antitumor immunity.