The rapid and continuous upsurge of interesting data in the subject of tumor immunology necessitates the publication of an annual series to furnish the updated materials to the students, researchers, and clinicians in this rapidly advancing field. Concepts and methodologies are ever changing. Also, current research in tumor immunology promises to offer breakthroughs in the future. Important is the need to communicate to the right people the exact role of immunodiagnostic methods and immunological intervention in cancer preven tion and treatment. The role of immunotherapy in combination with conven tional modalities of treatment needs to be understood in its proper perspective. Oncogene, interferon, lymphokines, monoclonal antibodies, natural killer cells, platelet-mediated cytotoxicity of antibody-coated target cells, suppressor cells, platelet-derived factors, plasma-blocking factors, control of suppressor cell func tion, abrogation of plasma-blocking factors, and so forth, are some of the areas that are continually advancing. Progress in these areas will have implication in cancer therapy. Further, it is already understood that if immunocompetence of the host can be maintained at a reasonably good level, there exists the potential to increase the therapeutic indexes of conventional modalities of treatment. This series will attempt to present updated information in all these areas based on con tributed and solicited articles.

The rapid and continuous upsurge of interesting data in the subject of tumor immunology necessitates the publication of an annual series to furnish the updated materials to the students, researchers, and clinicians in this rapidly advancing field. Concepts and methodologies are ever changing. Also, current research in tumor immunology promises to offer breakthroughs in the future. Important is the need to communicate to the right people the exact role of immunodiagnostic methods and immunolog ical intervention in cancer prevention and treatment. The role of immuno therapy in combination with conventional modalities of treatment needs in its proper perspective. Oncogene, interferon, lympho to be understood kines, monoclonal antibodies, natural killer cells, platelet-mediated cyto toxicity of antibody-coated target cells, suppressor cells, platelet-derived factors, plasma-blocking factors, control of suppressor cell function, ab rogation of plasma-blocking factors, etc. , are some of the areas that are continually advancing. Progress in these areas will have implication in cancer therapy. Further, it is already understood that if immunocompe tence of the host can be maintained at a reasonably good level, there exists the potential to increase the therapeutic indexes of conventional modalities of treatment. This series will attempt to present updated infor mation in all these areas based on contributed and solicited articles. P. K.

Recent advances in understanding of fundamental immunology have created new insights into the dynamic interactions between tumors and the immune system. This includes new understanding of T- and B-cell interaction, immune inhibitory mechanisms including the biology of T regulatory cells, myeloid suppressor cells, and dendritic cell subsets. Enhanced understanding of mechanisms underlying T-cell anergy such as arginine deprivation, immunosuppressive cytokines, defective innate and interferon response pathways, and NKG2D downregulation have all provided new insight into suppression of anti-tumor immunity and tumor evasion. In addition to emerging understanding of tumor evasion, new immune targets such as CTLA4 blockade, NK stimulatory receptors, manipulation of the antigen processing and presentation, cytokine and costimulatory responses all provide new possibilities for enhancing anti-tumor immunity even in tumors previously felt to be resistant to immune attack. Several of these strategies have already been realized in the clinic. The volume will explore evolving paradigms in antigen presentation, dendritic cell biology, the innate response and immunosuppressive mechanisms, and emerging strategies for manipulation of the immune system for therapeutic benefit that have realized success in neuroblastoma, leukemia, melanoma, lung cancer, and allogeneic transplantation. Early successes as well as failures will be highlighted to provide a snapshot of the state of clinical immunotherapy with an eye to future possibilities such as combination therapies, adoptive T-cell transfer, and the retargeting of immune cells via T-cell receptor engineering.

Understanding the immunology of different cancers has led to great advances in developing cancer immunotherapies which are successfully used in generating effective anti-tumour immune responses. Head and neck cancers are no exception and various immunotherapies are now under study for the treatment of this diverse group of diseases. The articles in in this eBook provide a range of topics that highlight some of the latest advances in head and neck cancer immunology and immunotherapy. The authors of these articles provide their unique insight and expertise and suggest future directions for translational clinical research.

Cancer care is undergoing a radical transformation as novel technologies are directed toward new treatments and personalized medicine. The most dramatic advances in the treatment of cancer have come from therapeutics that augment the immune response to tumors. The immune checkpoint inhibitors are the best-known and most highly advanced examples of Immune Therapeutics targeting tumor cells and include approved antibody drugs directed at the cell surface proteins CTLA4 and PD-1. These are now considered foundational treatments for several solid tumor indications, and that list of indications is growing quickly. More broadly, antibodies have become workhorse molecules across the entire immunotherapy landscape. Antibodies to novel targets modulate the activity of diverse immune cell regulatory proteins. Engineered antibodies can induce tumor cell death or expose tumor cells to poisonous toxins (ADCC and ADC, respectively). Bi-specific antibodies can engage multiple tumor targets simultaneously, or can redirect lymphocytes to attack tumor cells. The antigen-binding domains within antibodies can be spliced onto cell stimulatory domains and transduced into T cells or NK cells, creating remarkable tumor-specific cellular therapeutics (CAR-T, CAR-NK). Beyond antibody-based therapies there are highly diverse and differentiated technology tool kits being applied to immunotherapy. Small molecule drugs are being developed to attack the tumor microenvironment, novel tumor vaccine approaches are showing great promise, patient lymphocytes are being isolated, expanded and reintroduced to patients, gene-editing techniques are becoming widely deployed, and a vast number of new tumor targets, and mutated tumor proteins (neoantigens), are being discovered. The past decade has seen unprecedented success in the treatment of diverse cancers. The authors of this volume have been asked to not only review progress to date, but importantly, to look ahead, and anticipate the evolution of cancer treatment across diverse Immune Therapeutic approaches. Our hypothesis is that the advances we are seeing across the immunotherapy landscape will further evolve and synergize, leading us finally to outright cures for many cancers.