Elsevier

Seminars in Immunology

Volume 8, Issue 5, October 1996, Pages 271-280
Seminars in Immunology

Regular Paper
Is cancer dangerous to the immune system?

https://doi.org/10.1006/smim.1996.0035Get rights and content
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Abstract

The hypothesis of immunologic surveillance of neoplasia is predicated on the theory that the immune system is capable of discriminating self from foreign antigens, and that tumor-specific antigens are regarded by the immune system as nonself. We propose here an alternate view, that the immune system has evolved to detect danger by employing ‘professional’ antigen-presenting cells as sentinels of tissue distress. In this model, cancers do not appear dangerous to the immune system, so that the default response of T cells to tumors is to be turned off. We discuss the implications for immunotherapy of malignancy.

Keywords

antigen-presenting cells
immune surveillance
immunologic tolerance
tumor immunology
T lymphocytes

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