Editorial on the use of immunotherapy in renal-cell carcinoma—promising results in combination therapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab

During the last decades different immunotherapies have been used in the treatment of cancer without great success. However, stimulation of the immune system seems reasonable as there are immunogenic tumors such as melanoma and renal cell carcinoma which are known to rarely spontaneously regress when the immune system of the patient regains the ability to control the cancer (1). Multiple immune escape mechanisms are described which might be targeted by immunotherapies. The aim of all approaches is to enable the immune system to again recognize cancer antigens and eliminate the tumor cells (2). In contrast to chemotherapies and targeted therapies, immunotherapies thereby have the chance to lead to durable responses.