The Immune System in Cancer Pathogenesis: Potential Therapeutic Approaches

Figure 2

The cancer immunoediting process. There are three phases in the cancer immunoediting process: elimination, equilibrium, and escape [4]. Elimination phase involves effector function of the immune cells to target and eradicate cancer. In the equilibrium phase a balance is obtained between progression of cancer and cancer elimination by the immune system. If the cancer persists then it overwhelms the immunity and escapes to go on and metastasize to the other organs [4, 40, 53].