Abstract
Almost 60 years ago, the pioneering work of George Klein and others showed that cancers could be made targets for the immune system. Identification of the tumor targets, known as tumor antigens, became a focus in cancer biology that led to the discovery of the immunological properties of heat-shock proteins (HSPs) in 1986 by Pramod Srivastava and colleagues. Since then, the use of HSPs in the therapeutics of cancer and infectious disease in several clinical trials has been guided by our understanding of the role and effects of HSPs in adaptive and innate immune responses, investigated primarily in mice. This review will highlight the immunological properties of HSPs as we understand them today and review the clinical work on human cancers. Several Phase I and II clinical trials in different types of cancer that have been completed, as well as ongoing Phase III trials, will be summarized.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.