Active immunotherapy

Active immunotherapy
Specialtyimmunology

Active immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy that aims to stimulate the host's immune system or a specific immune response to a disease or pathogen and is most commonly used in cancer treatments.[1][2] Active immunotherapy is also used for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, prion disease, and multiple sclerosis.[3] Active immunotherapies induce an immune response through direct immune system stimulation, while immunotherapies that administer antibodies directly to the system are classified as passive immunotherapies.[4] Active immunotherapies can elicit generic and specific immune responses depending on the goal of the treatment.[5] The categories of active immunotherapy divide into:

  • Non-specific active immunotherapy: generating a general immune system response using cytokines and other cell signaling molecules.[6]
  • Specific active immunotherapy: the generation of cell-mediated and antibody immune responses focused on specific antigens expressed by the cancer cells, typically using a vaccine platform.[5]

Active immunotherapies fall under the category of activation immunotherapies, which is a subset of immunotherapies that activate the immune system as opposed immunotherapies that suppress the immune system.

  1. ^ Yang, Isaac; Han, Seungu (2009). "Heat-shock protein vaccines as active immunotherapy against human gliomas". Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy. 9 (11): 1577–82. doi:10.1586/era.09.104. PMC 3836274. PMID 19895242.
  2. ^ Davis, Ian D (2000-06-01). "An overview of cancer immunotherapy". Immunology and Cell Biology. 78 (3): 179–195. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1711.2000.00906.x. ISSN 1440-1711. PMID 10849106. S2CID 37602189.
  3. ^ Brody, David L.; Holtzman, David M. (2008-06-17). "Active and Passive Immunotherapy for Neurodegenerative Disorders". Annual Review of Neuroscience. 31 (1): 175–193. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.31.060407.125529. ISSN 0147-006X. PMC 2561172. PMID 18352830.
  4. ^ Winblad, Bengt; Graf, Ana; Riviere, Marie-Emmanuelle; Andreasen, Niels; Ryan, J. Michael (2014-01-30). "Active immunotherapy options for Alzheimer's disease". Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. 6 (1): 7. doi:10.1186/alzrt237. ISSN 1758-9193. PMC 3979042. PMID 24476230.
  5. ^ a b Baxter, D (2014). "Active and passive immunization for cancer". Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics. 10 (7): 2123–9. doi:10.4161/hv.29604. PMC 4370360. PMID 25424829.
  6. ^ "Non-specific cancer immunotherapies and adjuvants | American Cancer Society". www.cancer.org. Retrieved 2018-04-03.