Overview
Cancer immunotherapy is a treatment approach that harnesses or augments the immune system to recognise and destroy malignant cells, exploiting the body's capacity to distinguish tumour-associated antigens from healthy tissue. It encompasses several mechanistic classes, including immune-checkpoint inhibition, adoptive cell therapies such as chimaeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, therapeutic antibodies, and vaccine-based strategies. Tumour antigens, including oncofoetal molecules such as alpha-fetoprotein and its receptor, provide targets that allow immune effectors to home to cancer cells. Immunomonitoring is central to the field: immunoassays and emerging immunogenomic methods track immune activation, antigen expression, and response across cancer and infectious disease, while plasma microRNA profiles correlated with PD-L1 status and survival illustrate biomarkers used to predict and follow checkpoint-directed treatment. Nanotechnology is increasingly combined with cellular and antibody approaches to improve delivery, persistence, and specificity of immunotherapeutics. Clinical applications span solid tumours such as melanoma, thyroid, and lung cancer, where immunotherapy is integrated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation to improve outcomes, and where its uptake influences surgical decision-making. Because responses vary, predictive biomarkers, antigen characterisation, and combination regimens remain active areas of investigation. By redirecting innate and adaptive immunity against malignant cells, cancer immunotherapy complements cytotoxic and targeted therapies and continues to reshape oncological practice.
Research published in this journal
8 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
How this research is being cited
The 8 articles above have been cited 7 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
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2026 · Human Gene
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2024 · Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology
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2023 · Journal of Environmental Pathology Toxicology and Oncology
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CFTR-mediated monocyte/macrophage dysfunction revealed by cystic fibrosis proband-parent comparisons2022 · JCI Insight
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CFTR-mediated monocyte/macrophage dysfunction revealed by cystic fibrosis proband-parent comparisons2022 · JCI Insight
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2021 · medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
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CFTR-mediated monocyte-macrophage dysfunction revealed by cystic fibrosis proband-parent comparisonsX. Zhang et al. · 2021 · medRxiv
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Cancer Immunotherapy, linking to each citing work.