Cancer immunology is the study of interactions between the immune system and cancer cells, which is a growing field of research that aims to identify biomarkers in cancer immunodiagnosis and to discover innovative cancer immunotherapies. The immune response, including the recognition of cancer-specific antigens, is of particular interest in cancer immunology field as the knowledge gained drives the development of new vaccines and antibody therapies. It is also well demonstrated that the immune system can recognize the antigenic changes in cancer cell and further develop antibody against these cellular antigens that have been generally called tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). These cancer-associated autoantibodies might be considered as “reporters” from the immune system to identify the antigenic changes in cellular proteins involved in the transformation process. There has been a growing interest in using serum autoantibodies against TAAs as biomarkers in cancer immunodiagnosis. The persistence and stability of these antibodies in the serum of cancer patients are an advantage over other potential markers, including the TAAs themselves, some of which are released by tumors but rapidly are degraded or cleared after circulating in the serum for a limited time. The key to cancer immunodiagnosis and immunotherapy is an improved understanding of the immune response during malignant transformation.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles related to cancer immunology. We are particularly interested in articles describing cancer immunodiagnosis and cancer immunotherapy. Both laboratory and clinical studies are welcome.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Recent advances in cancer immunology, cancer immunodiagnosis, and cancer immunotherapy
• Evaluation and validation of TAAs and anti-TAAs as biomarkers in cancer immunodiagnosis
• Identification and characterization of tumor antigens as potential candidates in cancer vaccine development or as potential targets in cancer immunotherapy
• Basic studies of tumor antigens involved in tumorigenesis
• Clinical studies with relevance to cancer immunology and immunodiagnosis