Leading investigators and clinicians detail the different mechanisms used by tumors to escape
and impair the immune system and then spell out possible clinical strategies to prevent or
reverse tumor-induced immune dysfunction. The authors review the mechanisms of immune
dysfunction and evasion mechanisms in histologically diverse human tumors focusing on
tumor-induced molecular defects in T cells and antigen-presenting cells (dendritic cells and
tumors) that may serve as biomarkers for patient prognosis. They discuss the means by which
these immune functions may be protected or restored in order to more effectively support the
process of tumor rejection in situ. Cutting-edge techniques are outlined with the capacity to
monitor the strength and quality of patients' immune responses using immunocytometry
MHC-peptide tetramers combined with apoptosis assay ELISPOT assay and detection of MHC-TAA
peptide complexes on tumor cells.
