Anti Idiotype Antibodies In Cancer Treatment

Actively induced immunotherapy is one of the most promising fields in cancer research and numerous approaches are being studied to design effective cancer vaccines. Among the treatment strategies to develop an effective immune response against tumor associated antigens is the use of anti idiotype (Ab2) mAb as antigen surrogates. Several studies in animal models have demonstrated the efficacy of these vaccines for triggering the immune system to induce specific and protective immunity against tumors of different origin. In fact, anti-idiotypic mAbs have been used successfully in cancer therapeutics to overcome the poor immunogenicity of some tumor-associated antigens, in particular those of non-protein origin. In some clinical trials, including patients with different tumors, anti-Id specific humoral and/or cellular responses following immunization were associated with improved clinical outcome. This number of Frontiers will be dedicated to anti- idiotypic antibodies and their use in cancer treatment. Different article types will be considered: original contributions, case reports, methods, hypothesis and theory, reviews, historical, etc.