A Simplified Guide to the Immune System and How Immunotherapy Can Fight Prostate Cancer

The last post discussed the concept of vaccines for prostate cancer. The second part of the PCF trilogy is an overall simplified view of the immune system, including the various cell types and how they work under both normal and cancerous conditions. This section also describes checkpoint inhibitors and how they are being developed to fight prostate cancer among other types. I again will not summarize the article here but refer the reader to the well-written review in the following link.

The third section describes checkpoint inhibitors in detail focusing on successful applications as well as those scenarios wherein their effects were less than desired. While prostate cancer is the main focus, application to other cancers is also discussed.