Introduction to immunotherapy

Supplementum 01/2019 Imunoterapie

MUDr. Martina Spisarová; prof. MUDr. Bohuslav Melichar, Ph.D.

Onkologická klinika LF UP a FN, Olomouc

SUMMARY

Tumor diseases are one of the most common causes of death worldwide and affect all ages. Current advances in malignant therapy are both in the field of surgical treatment, which remains a key curative method of early stages of the disease, as well as in the field of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and, last but not least, targeted treatments that help us to overcome the limits of standard cancer therapies. Even primarily effective targeted therapy often encounters the development of secondary resistance after a certain period of time. The role of the immune system, or the tumor cells escaping from its surveillance, is unquestionable in the development of cancer. Influencing the individual steps of the immune response seemed to be a very promising method how to influence the course of cancer, and in the last few years, this assumption has been confirmed by an ever-expanding number of diagnoses where modern immunotherapy in patients prolongs survival. The key diagnosis has become a disease that, thanks to its chemoresistance and radioresistance, for decades prompted the discovery of other treatment options.

KEY WORDS

immunotherapy, history of immunotherapy, anti-PD-1