[Possibilities and limitations of immunotherapy in the treatment of malignant neoplasms].

The goal of cancer immunotherapy is to achieve cure when the more usual means of treatment fail to do so. This can be achieved in some animal models where tumor rejection antigens have been demonstrated. In man, the contribution of immunotherapy to the treatment of minimal residual but disseminated disease has been exceedingly poor. This discrepancy should be analyzed, in an effort to detect and define in vitro putative tumor rejection antigens in human tumors.