Tumour detection/destruction

Antibody-based strategies for tumour detection/destruction... 

Despite the scientific elegance of the antibody-mediated approach to tumour detection/ destruction, initial clinical trials proved disappointing. A number of factors contributed to their poor therapeutic performance, particularly against solid tumours. Most such factors relate directly or indirectly to the fact that the first generation of such drugs utilized whole monoclonal antibody preparations of murine origin. These factors include ... 

Whatever the exact nature of tumour escape, it has been demonstrated, both in vitro and in vivo, that immunostimulation can lead to enhanced tumour detection and destruction. Several approaches to cancer immunotherapy have thus been formulated, many involving application of IL-2 as the primary immunostimulant. 

Most transformed cells do not express class II MHC molecules and express lower than normal levels of class I MHC molecules. This renders their detection by immune effector cells more difficult. Treatment with cytokines, such as IFN-y, can induce increased class I MHC expression, which normally promotes increased tumour cell susceptibility to immune destruction. 

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