Cancer immunotherapy: avoiding the road to perdition

The hypothesis that human cancers express antigens that can be specifically targeted by cell mediated immunity has become a scientifically justifiable rationale for the design and clinical testing of novel tumor-associated antigens (TAA). Although a number of TAA have been recognized and it has been suggested that they could be useful in the immunological treatment of cancer, the complexity of human beings leads us to reflect on the need to establish new criteria for validating their real applicability. Herein, we show a system level-based approach that includes morphological and molecular techniques, which is specifically required to improve the capacity to produce desired results and to allow cancer immunotherapy to re-emerge from the mist in which it is currently shrouded.