Prerequisites for the immunotherapy of cancer

Tumours express proteins not commonly found in normal cells, or over-expres s certain proteins. These may in some cases serve as target antigens for im munological attack. It is therefore essential to improve our understanding of the nature of these target epitopes and the cells which recognize them, in order to develop immunotherapy as a realistic treatment for cancer. A sm all group of around 40 investigators recently came together at the Heinrich Fabri Institute of the University of Tubingen to discuss the identificatio n of human tumour antigens and the exploitation of this knowledge for effec tive immunotherapy.