Key Aspects on Cancer Immunology

Although the obvious achievements in treatment and diagnostics are available, oncology diseases remain a major healthcare problem worldwide. The incidence of cancer has significantly increased globally due to the increasing exposure of risk factors and average life expectancy. The specific response against tumors is developed and realized by the immunocompetent organs. However, activated immunocompetent cells are frequently failed in their mission to reject the tumor, which leads to cancer progression and metastasis. Such failure of immune system is linked with the phenomenon of cancer recurrence, which is based on widespread of highly metastatic tumor cells with low immunogenicity. Therefore, the tumor cells acquire the ability to avoid the monitoring of immune system and become resistant to anti-cancer drugs. This specificity of the tumor cell is the key barrier to the successful treatment and management of cancer. The present article aims to review and summarize the key aspects of cancer immunology. It is focused on description of the role of specific genes, polymorphisms, epigenetics as well as tumor microenvironment and immunoediting in relation to cancer immunology.