癌症免疫治疗进展综述

在过去三十年，癌症的免疫学研究和免疫治疗取得了重大进展。一个重要的进步就是识别人类癌症抗原对癌症患者引起的自发性免疫反应。迄今已知的大部分免疫原性人类癌症抗原属于睾丸癌抗原家族，这种抗原蛋白在各种类型癌症中均有表达，但正常组织不表达（除胚胎细胞外）。癌症免疫治疗的目的就是通过接种相关抗原联合免疫佐剂诱导或激发肿瘤特异性免疫反应。免疫佐剂与抗原联合应用可诱导强效的免疫反应，或者显著提高原有的免疫反应。免疫治疗对于早期癌症患者可能是有益的，因为在此阶段免疫逃逸不明显。

Developments in Cancer Immunotherapy

In the past three decades, cancer immunology and immune therapy have made significant progress. An important step forward was the identification of human cancer antigens eliciting spontaneous immune responses in cancer patients. At present, the most immunogenic human cancer antigens known belong to the cancer-testis family of antigens, which are proteins expressed in various types of cancer but not in any healthy tissues except germ cells. The aims of cancer immunotherapy were to induce or boost the existing tumor-specific immune response by vaccinating with a relevant antigen together with an adjuvant. In addition, it may be favor of patients with early-stage disease in immunotherapy trials, as immune escape may be less pronounced.