describes a class of therapies in which the immune system is manipulated for therapeutic benefit. These treatments include immune checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell therapy, and vaccines. For many hematological malignancies, immunotherapy has emerged as an essential treatment component. However, this success has yet to be replicated for solid tumors, which develop advanced physical and molecular mechanisms for suppressing and evading immune destruction. Nevertheless,

Immunotherapy cytokine immunotherapy

Interleukin-12 (IL-12), one of the most potent proinflammatory cytokines, was initially investigated for this purpose. However, initial murine and human studies in which IL-12 was administered systemically resulted in dangerous immunotoxicity associated with off-target immune activation. As a result, recent studies have employed advanced cell and molecular engineering approaches to reduce IL-12 toxicity while increasing or maintaining its efficacy such that its effective doses can be tolerated in humans. In their new review article titled "Augmentation of Solid Tumor Immunotherapy With IL-12", Honors College senior undergraduate student Christian Geils and his mentor Dr. Katie Kathrein highlight such developments and describe promising future directions.