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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Immunoguiding, the Final Frontier in the Immunotherapy of Cancer

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T cells play an important role in cancer. This notion is strongly supported by an enormous number of trials on the clinical impact of tumor-infiltrating T cells and studies consequently showing that therapeutic interventions which are based on transfer, activation and expansion, or de-blocking of tumor-specific T cells, which have met with clinical success. To optimally profit from the flow of newly developed immune-based therapeutics aiming to reinforce the systemic and local tumor-specific T-cell response, it will be required to identify biomarkers that provide the rationale to use a particular therapy, that measure the effect of intervention, and that can predict the outcome of a therapeutic approach. Such biomarkers should first be identified and validated by (series of) harmonized immunological assays used for monitoring the immune system of patients and in a later phase may aid in guiding the choice and effect of therapy. In this chapter, the successes, new avenues, and challenges in immune monitoring of patients with cancer will be discussed in the context of current immunotherapeutic approaches.