In 2013 the journal Science hailed “Immunotherapy” as the breakthrough of the year 1. Two crucial advances were highlighted. The first was the use of antibodies to block negative signals on T lymphocytes (called “checkpoint inhibitors”) and the second was the use of gene vectors to engineer the expression of a new protein on the surface of T lymphocytes, specifically a Chimeric Antigen Receptor or CAR.
The immune system recognizes foreign cells and proteins that it perceives as dangerous through either cell-mediated immunity, which is the domain of T lymphocytes (T cells) or through the production of soluble proteins that recognize unique structures on foreign pathogens, called antibodies, by B lymphocytes (B cells). Antibodies can be produced in large quantities and stored as lyophilized proteins.
