ABSTRACT

IMMUNE SYSTEM AND CANCER From the perspective of immunotherapy, the adaptive immune response is of more interest, since it can be instructed and taught to act against foreign antigens versus self antigens. The adaptive immune system is comprised of the antigen-presenting cells (APCs, which include dendritic cells [DCs], the most effective APCs), and CD4 + and CD8 + T cells ( 1 ). CD4 + T cells include both helper T cells (T H17 ) and regulatory T cell (T REG ) populations. APCs, such as DCs and Langerhan cells, can activate T cells by effi ciently processing exogenous, as well as endogenous antigens, and present them to T cells at the plasma membrane through the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen processing machinery ( Fig. 3.1 ).