A new alternative cancer treatment modality: Immunotherapy

In recent years, progress in understanding the natural immune system has led to research and development of an alternative therapeutic approach called immunotherapy that promises to provide a remarkable breakthrough in the future. Immunotherapy, also called as biological therapy, is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body′s immune system to fight cancer. It exploits cells that often have different molecules on their surfaces called as antigens. Immunotherapy is used to provoke the immune system by attacking those antigens as targets. This review of literature is an attempt to summarize the various methods of immunotherapy - Toll like receptor targeting therapy, cell-based therapies through natural killer cells, dendritic cells, T-cells, vaccination (immune activation therapies), cytokine and chemokine therapies.