Overview of current approaches in cancer immunotherapy and personalized opportunities for future aspect

Abstract

Cancer refers to a group of diseases characterized by a rapid and uncontrolled proliferation of cells in the body after undergoing a series of structural variations. Non-specific methods such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are used widely in cancer treatment. Recently, there is a special focus on specific methods such as immunotherapy that targets certain parts of the patient’s immune system. New treatment options are needed in this respect because nonspecific methods are insufficient in curing the disease, do not increase patient's survival, and healthy cells are damaged as well as cancer cells. Immunotherapy has less toxicity, fewer side effects during treatment, and is a patient-specific individualized treatment modality. Due to the fact that human tumors occur with a combination of genetic and epigenetic changes, cancer cells manage to recognize immunity and escape subsequent destruction. The main goal of cancer immunotherapy is to reactivate the immune system to neutralize tumor cells. Immunotherapy has many advantages such as preventing the side effects of chemotherapy/radiotherapy, avoiding metastases, and targeting cancer stem cells. The main treatment methods used in cancer immunotherapy, are cancer vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, cytokines, and monoclonal antibodies. In this review, we outline some of the main strategies in cancer immunotherapy and discuss the progress in personalized cancer therapy.