Tumor immunotherapy: the tumor cell as an antigen-presenting cell.

Increased knowledge in basic immunology has led to a variety of innovative and imaginative approaches for tumor-specific immunotherapy. One of these approaches is based on the premise that tumor cells do not normally stimulate an effective tumor-specific immune response, because they do not efficiently present tumor antigens to the relevant lymphocytes. To overcome inadequate antigen presentation, it has been hypothesized that tumor cells can be genetically engineered to present tumor peptides directly to T lymphocytes.