Adoptive cellular therapy for the treatment of cancer

Abstract

Over the last decade, advances in the field of tumor immunobiology have led to a renaissance in the use of adoptively transferred T cells for the treatment of patients with cancer. These advances include the identification of T cell-defined tumorassociated antigens, a greater understanding of the underlying molecular principles governing T cell activation, differentiation and expansion, and the development of novel strategies to elicit and characterize T cell responses both in vitro, and in vivo. In this chapter, the 'principles and practice' of adoptive cellular therapy are discussed in the context of translational studies arising from basic immunologic discoveries.