With the rapid development and the interactions with the oncology, the molecular biology and the immunology, the tumor immunotherapy has become a new hotspot in the cancer therapy. It is based on the immunological principles and the methods to improve the immunogenicity of tumor cells and the sensitivity of natural killer cells and T cells, to stimulate and enhance the body's anti-tumor immune responses, and to kill tumor cells and inhibit tumor growth. For various tumor types such as the melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, the immunotherapy shows strong anti-tumor effects. Some immunotherapeutic drugs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. In 2013, Science magazine ranked the tumor immunotherapy as the year's most important scientific breakthrough. It has become an important tool for cancer therapy, along with the surgery, the radiotherapy and the chemotherapy, representing the hope of curing malignancies. In this paper, the history, the development, the future directions of the tumor immunology and the tumor immunity development in China are reviewed.

tumor  /  immunotherapy  /  tumor antigen  /  immune cells