Active immunotherapy

Active immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy that aims to stimulate the host's immune system or a specific immune response to a disease or pathogen and is most commonly used in cancer treatments. Active immunotherapy is also used for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, prion disease, and multiple sclerosis. Active immunotherapies induce an immune response through direct immune system stimulation, while immunotherapies that administer antibodies directly to the system are classified as passive immunotherapies. Active immunotherapies can elicit generic and specific immune responses depending on the goal of the treatment. The categories of active immunotherapy divide into:

• Non-specific active immunotherapy: generating a general immune system response using cytokines and other cell signaling molecules.
• Specific active immunotherapy: the generation of cell-mediated and antibody immune responses focused on specific antigens expressed by the cancer cells, typically using a vaccine platform.

Active immunotherapies fall under the category of activation immunotherapies, which is a subset of immunotherapies that activate the immune system as opposed immunotherapies that suppress the immune system.