Tumor associated antigens and its potential use in cancer therapy

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization data in the World Cancer Report 2008, the cancer incidence was duplicated in the last three decades of the 20thcentury and in spite of the important efforts of the science for attacking this scourge and of the creation of new therapeutic strategies, it is calculated that for the year 2050, the half of the population will be in risk of developing some cancer type. The rapid development of the technology in the last decades has allowed explaining some of the molecular mechanisms and the interactions of the tumor cell with the immune system, that finally produces the tumor development or elimination and on the tumor antigenic structure plays a fundamental role. The discovery of variety of tumors associated antigens has allowed the immunotherapy development with the use of monoclonal antibodies or vaccines for active immunization, these news strategies represent important trends in cancer treatment. In this paper there are described some of these antigens in its basic characteristics, influence in the tumor development and current application in immunotherapy, in order to generate in the reader expectations about this future cancer therapy.