Preface

Takeo Fukushima

This issue of ANTICANCER RESEARCH presents the Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Biotherapeutic Approaches. It is our great pleasure to introduce this issue expressing my sincere gratitude to the Editors of Anticancer Research for kindly accepting and publishing the proceedings of our regional meeting in Japan in ANTICANCER RESEARCH.

The 22nd meeting was held in Tokyo, Japan on December 8, 2018, chaired by Professor Kazunori Hashimoto, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tokyo Women's Medical University Medical Center East, Japan and Senior Lecturer Hirohito Kobayashi, Transfusion Medicine and Cell Processing, Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital, Japan. One of the highlights in this conference was the special lecture on “Cancer immunotherapy using γδ type T cells” presented by Dr. Hirohito Kobayashi, Transfusion Medicine and Cell Processing, Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital, Japan. In addition, there were two workshops and many oral presentations on a wide range of basic and clinical topics, offering impressive advances in this field.

The main aims of our Society are to facilitate good communication between basic researchers and clinicians, and to perform clinical trials with adequate informed consent in an appropriate and professional manner. These aspects include important issues for the progress of biotherapy as well as for medicine in general. It is our sincere hope that these Proceedings will contribute to further progress in the field of biotherapy and that our members will continue to foster the aims of our Society.