Immunotherapy in Human Cancers

In ancient medicine, many scientists have mentioned that the human body has its own mechanisms to defend against diseases and achieve either a cure or the symptomatic response. In the 5th century B.C., the ancient Greeks noted that patients who survived the plague disease were somehow immune to it. Ibn Sina, in his book ’The Canon of Medicine,’ describes the basics of our immune system with general concepts. Ibn Sina had mentioned that the human body has its own defense power and called it ’Quatu-almudafat’ in the Arabic language. Not only the contagious behavior of some diseases (person to person) and the distribution nature of them (through water or solids), but also, he mentioned or believed that these contagious diseases need 40 days to be under control and limit the spread of infections. However, the term ’immunology’ was much later coined by the Russian biologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, who received the Nobel Prize in 1908 with Paul Ehrlich for their study and work on immunity. There have been rapid advances in immunology, as in every field of science in the 20th and 21st centuries. Developments in biology, microbiology, drug production and advances in many fields have led to the recognition of cell antigenicity, the definition of foreign antigen and antibody relationships, and finally the treatments we call Immunotherapy, in which humoral and cellular components have been developed today, as well as treatments with antibodies alone or antibody drugs, antibody toxins, antibody radioactive congucation. In addition cellular therapy mediated by T cells and NK cells (such as CAR-T cell, CAR-NK, LAK) have been developed.
Today and in the near future, immune therapies seem to play a role in many diseases other than cancer. Immune therapies alone or with drug/toxin conjugates are promising in cancer treatments and have led and will lead to very long-term survival in some cancers.
This book, which is the book on immune therapies in cancer, has been prepared by doctors who are experts in the field of immune therapies in some hematological and non-hematological cancers. Information on the subject is the responsibility of the author. We hope that this book, in which you will read many innovations, will be useful.