Immunologic Basis of Immuno-therapeutics and Vaccines: Present Approaches and Future Perspectives

Immunotherapy is a rapidly evolving branch of biomedical science that deals with the modulation or manipulation of host immune response to treat various immune-related diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, allergies, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, etc. The process of immunotherapy often exploits the natural function of native or engineered versions of effector molecules (i.e., antibodies) or immune cells (T cells, NK cells, dendritic cells, etc.) to specifically target disease-causing molecules, abnormal cells, or pathogens conferring therapeutic benefits. The present chapter which is primarily aimed at a broad scientific audience emphasizes the general immunological principles and different approaches used in immunotherapy of common infectious and non-infectious diseases with a futuristic approach; newer vaccines, vaccine development, vaccine delivery strategies, and overall applications against infectious agents, as well as non-infectious conditions (e.g., cancer, allergy, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, etc.) are discussed.