Adoptive immunotherapy: present status and perspectives in cancer treatment.

Introduction, - Adoptive immunotherapy was first introduced in the 1980s. This new anticancer therapeutic approach has already demonstrated promising results in both animal models and humans affected by various tumors. Current knowledge and key points. - This review summarizes the requirements of such therapies involving either activated lymphocytes, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or activated macrophages. It focuses more particularly on the promising approaches that represent antigen presenting cells such as macrophages and antigen-loaded dendritic cells in the development of safe and effective cancer vaccines. Future prospects and projects. - Standardized procedures for macrophages and dendritic cell generation, as well as preliminary results of clinical applications in patients with either prostate cancer or melanoma, are also discussed. (C) 2000 Editions Scientifiques et Medicales Elsevier SAS, Paris.