Logic of the immune system.
Our immune system evolves under continuous selection to protect us against pathogens, a trait that can be used to deploy the immune system or its component parts for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in cancer. What follows is a thumbnail sketch of the logic that underlies immune recognition, so that those not directly active in the field of immunology may grasp both possibilities and pitfalls when considering applying the tools and concepts of immunology to cancer and cancer therapy.
Author's Affiliation: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hidde L
HL
Ploegh
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000276:immunology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy