Cancer Immune Therapy Edited by G. Stuhler and P. Walden ...

Glossary
droxide. Although the exact mechanism of the adjuvant effect of many of the compounds
used is not well understood, they are thought to stimulate parts of the innate
immune system (see Innate immunity) including the induction of inflammatory cytokines
and chemokines, the recruitment and activation of antigen-presenting cells, and
the expression of co-stimulatory molecules.
Adoptive immunotherapy
Passive immunization involving the transplantation of immune effector cells, i.e.
most often T lymphocytes, with the desired specificity into a patient. Lymphocytes
may be autologous or, in animal models, syngeneic or allogeneic and be directly
transferred from an immune individual into a non-immune individual or, as it is
usually the case when applied for therapy, stimulated and expanded in vitro, and
then injected into the patients.
Angiogenesis
The process of forming new blood vessels in healthy as well as in malignant tissues.
Angiogenesis is mediated by a variety of factors, most importantly vascular endothelial
growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Often, the vascularization
of tumors leads to atypical blood vessels some of which are dead-ended.
Annexin
Widely expressed family of calcium-dependent phospholipid-binding proteins involved
in the aggregation, fusion and exocytosis of intracellular vesicles and granules,
and in membrane recycling. Annexins are used as indicators for apoptosis. They
bind to the phospholipids that appear at the cell surface early in programmed cell
death. More than 10 Annexin family members have been identified to date. They are
characterized by a common core domain of four or eight repeats of a 61-amino-acid
domain. Annexin II, in its soluble form, inhibits T lymphocyte proliferation, and suppresses
IgG and IgM secretion by B lymphocytes. High expression of Annexins has
been correlated with higher-grade tumors.
Antiangiogenesis
Therapeutic strategy that aims at inhibiting the formation of new blood vessels in tumors.
Among the naturally occurring antiangiogenic proteins are angiostatin, endostatin,
interferons (IFNs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases. Some chemotherapeutic
drugs used for cancer therapy such as thalidomide or IFNs have antiangiogenic
activity.
Antibody
Any protein (immunoglobulin) produced by B lymphocytes that binds antigen. Antibodies
consist of an antigen-binding domain and a constant region. The gene segments
for the variable domain, as it is the case for the T cell receptor, are formed by recombination
of V, D and J segment to yield a clonotypic antigen receptor. The antibodies
are homodimers of heterodimers of a heavy and a light chain. The light chain
consists of two domains ± one variable and one constant; the heavy chain, in addi-
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