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Potdar. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2020;6:38 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2020.75 Metastasis and Treatment

Editorial Open Access

Special issue on “Immunotherapy of cancer: future
possible therapy for metastatic cancer”

Pravin D. Potdar

Faculty & Professor of Stem Cell & Genomic Research, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Educational & Research Centre, Prabhadevi, Mumbai
400025, India.
Correspondence to: Prof. Pravin D. Potdar, Faculty & Professor of Stem Cell & Genomic Research, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Educational
& Research Centre, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025, India. E-mail: ppravin012@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Potdar PD. Special issue on “Immunotherapy of cancer: future possible therapy for metastatic cancer”. J
Cancer Metastasis Treat 2020;6:38. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2020.75
Received: 22 Jul 2020 Accepted: 22 Jul 2020 Published: 27 Sep 2020

Academic Editor: JCMT Editorial Office Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

The global burden of cancer incidence is estimated to be up to 18.1 million people with 9.6 million
deaths in 2018. The major cause of death is due to the high toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs and drug
resistance developed by cancer cells. Thus, there is an unmet need for appropriate therapy which can kill
cancer cell alone and reduce drug resistance. Immunotherapy is an alternative therapy for cancer which
mainly boosts the immune response of these patients and kills cancer cells alone with fewer side effects.
Since Professor James Allison from M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Texas, USA, received the Noble prize
for his outstanding contribution to the field of immunotherapy, there has been great excitement in this
field. Immunotherapy has become a powerful branch of cancer therapy for the treatment of various types
of cancers due to milder side effects than the presently available chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It mainly
works by strengthening the host immune responses against tumor cells by supplementation of modified
immune system components. There are four different types of immunotherapies: monoclonal antibodies,
cancer vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell therapies.
Immunotherapy can be given in combination with mild doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy obtain
effective and non-toxic treatment for most cancer patients.

With the development of several innovative technologies in the field of cancer medicine, molecular biology,
stem cell biology, and bioinformatics, there has been a rapid increase in our understanding of the human
immune system. Similarly, there is an extensive program planned to discover small molecules, peptides,
recombinant antibodies, vaccines, and cellular therapeutics, which are being applied to manipulate the
immune response of cancer patients to cure cancer. These immune therapies have provided significant

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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