Immunotherapy in veterinary oncology.

Abstract

Tumor immunology and immunotherapy is one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields. The immune system is divided into 2 primary components: the innate immune response and the highly specific, but more slowly developing, adaptive or acquired immune response. Immune responses are separated by whether they are induced by exposure to a foreign antigen (active response) or transferred through serum or lymphocytes from an immunized individual (passive response). The ideal cancer immunotherapy agent should discriminate between cancer and normal cells (specificity), be potent enough to kill small or large numbers of tumor cells (sensitivity), and prevent recurrence of a tumor (durability).