ABSTRACT
The ultimate control of cancer lies in the host’s immune surveillance and defense system. Many immunotherapy strategies have been proposed to target cancer, including cytokine therapy, dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines, and immune-activating antibodies, either alone or in various combinations with other therapies. However, thus far, these immunotherapy strategies have yielded low response rates, usually in the range of 5%–10% among treated patients. Novel approaches are therefore needed to increase the efficacy of immunotherapies. Ideally, such novel approaches should achieve a potent systemic, tumor-specific immunological response through a minimally invasive, local intervention to suppress local tumors and at the same time eradicate metastases at distant sites, while providing antitumor immunity to the host with minimal adverse side effects.
