Those researchers base their argument on the (true) point that by definition the immune system is conceived to distinguish self from non-self. Therefore the immune system would not ever recognize tumor cells, since they are still "self". I think the immune response has such a great potential to help get rid of cancer cells; that there is always the possibility to find good targets against cancer. That is why we should collect several points of view to discuss with our pals and encourage people to get the right tracks. I mean instead of shutting up, just like most of them would like us to do. By the way, in cases where infectious pathogens like viruses are involved, it does not count (they say) because those are just "exceptions". Help me out dear colleagues!
I am surprised there are researchers negating the existance of immune response against cancer. On what basis? It is a well-known fact that neoplastic cells have very different antigens presented on their surface by mainly MHC class I to CD8+ T lymphocytes e.g. CEA, MAGE, NY-ESO-1a, gp100, MART-1 and many many others. Sometimes cancer has got low MHC expression and that is also detected (by NK cells) and that triggers cytotoxic response against it. Apart from that, M1 macrophages actively kill cancer cells. B cells and antibodies as well as complement also participate in our immune response against cancer. Those facts are used in developing immunization therapies, for example against melanoma, as well as anti-cancer vaccines.
Thanks for answering soon dear Filip. Just like you, in my opinion if the immune system do not cope with tumor cells, we all would be harboring a lot of cancer processes all over our body. I just don't know how to explain that the cancer is not because your immune system doesn't work. These guys always go to the same point: the immune system does not recognize a cancer cell because it is "self". I'm tired of this... haha... Keep helping please.
Autoimmune diseases. The immune system is able to recognize anything, even our own cells. In case of autoimmune diseases it is pathology and we try to silence this response, but this just shows that it can be immunized against any given antigen. If cancer cells have abnormal expression of unusual, often mutated, proteins, it is very likely that lymphocytes will detect them. There is even a process called cancer immunological surveillance described by Frank Macfarlane Burnet, which has been described in 1970. They should update their knowledge because they are lagging behind 44 years.
Here is a review article on this: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1365-2567.2007.02587.x/asset/j.1365-2567.2007.02587.x.pdf?v=1&t=htoreegr&s=016bd7e01fa920734afb1e2e54df4692a15b41f3
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