The aim of current immunotherapeutic approaches is to harness the individual's immune system towards a tumor tissue to eliminate or, at least, to control proliferation of the neoplastic cells. Among the cancer treatment strategies, the adoptive T cell transfer is progressively developing method that uses an ex vivo modified and expanded tumor-specific T cells as a tool to target and destroy the neoplastic tumor cells.
The efficacy of the adoptive T cell therapy has significantly improved in recent years due to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control the interactions of immune system and tumor cells. Promising results have already been achieved within the clinical trials in malignant melanoma, renal cancer and lymphoid leukemia.
The adoptive T cell therapy is therefore gradually finding its place among the other immunotherapeutic strategies and expands the spectrum of available treatment options in cancer therapy.