title: Complement in cancer and cancer immunotherapy.
abstract: Recently, there has been an increase of interest in the use of biological or immune-based therapies for patients with malignancies. This has been informed by the deeper understanding of the crosstalk between the host immune system and malignant tumours, as well as the potential advantages of immunotherapy-high specificity and less toxicity compared to standard approaches. The particular emphasis of this article is on the role of the complement system in tumour growth and antibody-based cancer immunotherapy. The functional consequences from overexpression of complement regulators by tumours and the development of strategies for overcoming this are discussed in detail. This review discusses these issues with a view to inspiring the development of new agents that could be useful for the treatment of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection, Immunity and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolev
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Towner
authors.forename: Rossen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donev
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D000920:Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity / Q000276:immunology; D018958:CD55 Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D018957:CD59 Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D003167:Complement Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D051916:Membrane Cofactor Protein / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D018958:CD55 Antigens; D018957:CD59 Antigens; D051916:Membrane Cofactor Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors