Figure 1.
The cartoon shows the progression of different states (x1, x2, …, xn−1, xn) identifiable in the development of cancer from natural tissue. The exact time interval (t) between two successive states is unpredictable. Understanding how the immune system affects cancer progression still remains one of the most important topics in cancer immunology. Elimination, equilibrium, and escape represent three states that function either independently or in sequence in which a different relation between transformed cells and the immune system is established. The entire process is called “cancer immunoediting”.