Cancer Immunology

Cancer immunology is an interdisciplinary discipline of biology that focuses on understanding the function of the immune system in the progression and development of cancer. Cancer immunosurveillance and immunoediting are based on the identification of targets for the immune system's recognition of human cancer, and protection against the growth of tumours in animal systems. Burnet and Thomas developed the concept of cancer immunosurveillance in 1957. They suggested that lymphocytes serve as sentinels, identifying and destroying continuously emerging, immature altered cells. Cancer immunosurveillance looks to be a crucial host defence mechanism that lowers cancer incidence rates by preventing carcinogenesis and maintaining constant cellular homeostasis. Additionally, it has been proposed that the primary role of immunosurveillance is to be a part of a broader process of cancer immunoediting.