Conquering cancer begins with you. The power to prevent, control and overcome cancer lives within your own immune defense system.

Cancer vaccines, antibody treatments, and other “immunotherapies” have the potential to be more targeted, more effective, and less toxic than today's approaches to fighting this disease.

These approaches — sometimes called biologic therapy, biotherapy, or biological response modifier therapy — are being developed and tested right now in research laboratories and medical facilities around the world by scientists, doctors and other specialists in cancer immunology. These pages will introduce you to some of the key concepts and achievements.

Milestones in the field: Peruse the timeline of breakthroughs in science’s understanding of cancer and the immune system.

Challenges and opportunities: Learn about promising areas of research and the importance of collaboration.

Glossary: Find definitions of the cancer immunology and other terms used on this site.

Web links: Explore cancer and immunology topics in greater depth on these sites, which include CRI partner institutions.

Cancer and the Immune System: the Vital Connection is an in-depth look at how the immune system responds to cancer, and how cancer immunologists are using their knowledge about the immune system to develop new ways to conquer cancer. This e-publication contains easy-to-understand graphics and animations to help explain the intricate relationship between cancer and the immune system.

Even though cancer immunology is a relatively young field, it’s already yielding impressive results — including the HPV vaccine to prevent certain forms of cervical cancer, a life-saving breakthrough that CRI donors and scientists helped to make possible.

Find out how your gift to CRI can support this kind of exciting research and quicken our pace to win the fight against cancer.