# Immune system

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/immune-system/  
OnCo record `immune-system` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The body's defence network of cells and molecules that recognises and destroys infected, foreign and abnormal cells. It kills most would-be cancers before they are ever noticed; the ones that survive have learned to hide from it.

## Summary

The innate arm (macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, dendritic cells) responds fast and generically; the adaptive arm (T cells and B cells) learns specific targets and remembers them. Tumours are recognised because they display mutated proteins and stress signals, but successful tumours evade destruction by displaying 'don't attack me' checkpoint signals, hiding their antigens, recruiting suppressive cells, and walling themselves off; 'avoiding immune destruction' is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Immunotherapy in its many forms (checkpoint inhibitors, engineered T cells, bispecifics, vaccines) works by restoring or engineering the immune system's ability to see and kill the tumour.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: immunity; immune response; immune responses; immune cells; immune cell; immune attack; immune recognition; immune surveillance; immunosurveillance; innate immunity; adaptive immunity; innate immune; adaptive immune; white blood cells; white blood cell; leukocytes; lymphocytes; lymphocyte

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system

## Connected records

- terms: [Antibody](https://onco.cc/terms/antibody/), [Antigen](https://onco.cc/terms/antigen/), [B cell](https://onco.cc/terms/b-cell/), [Cytokine](https://onco.cc/terms/cytokine/), [Hallmark: avoiding immune destruction](https://onco.cc/terms/avoiding-immune-destruction/), [Hot vs cold tumours](https://onco.cc/terms/cold-vs-hot/), [Immune checkpoint](https://onco.cc/terms/immune-checkpoint/), [Immunotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/immunotherapy-term/), [Inflammation](https://onco.cc/terms/inflammation/), [Lymph node](https://onco.cc/terms/lymph-node/), [Macrophage](https://onco.cc/terms/macrophage/), [NK cell](https://onco.cc/terms/nk-cell/), [T cell](https://onco.cc/terms/t-cell/)
- pathways: [Tumour microenvironment (TME)](https://onco.cc/pathways/tumor-microenvironment/)
- people: [John Stagg](https://onco.cc/people/john-stagg/), [Karolina Palucka](https://onco.cc/people/karolina-palucka/), [Ralph Weichselbaum](https://onco.cc/people/ralph-weichselbaum/)
- key papers: [Binnewies 2018: understanding the tumour immune microenvironment for effective therapy](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-binnewies-tumor-immune-microenvironment-natmed-2018/), [Chen and Mellman 2013: the cancer-immunity cycle](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-chen-mellman-cancer-immunity-cycle-immunity-2013/), [Coussens and Werb 2002: inflammation and cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-coussens-werb-inflammation-cancer-nature-2002/), [Galon 2006: the type, density and location of immune cells in colorectal tumours predict outcome](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-galon-immune-contexture-colorectal-science-2006/), [Li 2017: TIMER, a web server for estimating immune cells in tumour genomic data](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-li-timer-tumour-infiltrating-immune-cells-cancerres-2017/), [Li 2020: TIMER2.0 for analysis of tumour-infiltrating immune cells](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-li-timer2-nar-2020/), [Schreiber, Old and Smyth 2011: cancer immunoediting](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-schreiber-cancer-immunoediting-science-2011/), [Thorsson 2018: the immune landscape of cancer across 10,000 tumours](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-thorsson-immune-landscape-of-cancer-immunity-2018/)

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