title: Antibody-based cancer therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clinical efficacy of mAbs is generally ascribed to interference with signaling pathways leading to arrest of cell-cycle progression and inhibition of tumor growth. Furthermore, mAbs also have the capacity to activate effector functions of the innate immune system and facilitate the destruction of malignant cells.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The induction of tumor-specific immunity is a desired outcome in cancer immunotherapy. The prevailing situation raises one major question that has to be addressed. This is the clear need for the induction of tumor-specific immunity by combining mAb treatment with other modalities of cancer immunotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Through mAb treatment, recent efforts focus at initiating or enhancing active antitumor immune responses by i) potentiating co-stimulation and blocking co-inhibition; and ii) rendering tumors more immunogenic through increased tumor peptide expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this review, the functional characteristics of mAbs, together with their mechanisms of action and clinical application, is summarized as is the potential of combination immunotherapies using mAbs for the augmentation of adaptive antitumor immunity. The results from preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate that mAbs can also promote tumor-specific active immunity.
authors.affiliation: St. Savas Cancer Hospital, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Center, 171 Alexandras Ave, 11522 Athens, Greece +30 210 6409380 ; baxevanis@ciic.gr.
authors.forename: Constantin N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Baxevanis