The Birth of ‘Immune Surveillance Theory’
July 24, 2026Core Framework & Diagram The Origins of Cancer Immunology
July 24, 2026
1 minuete Read
The Origins of Cancer Immunology
Humanity's first attempt to kill cancer using the immune system was in 1891
By the Editors 1-min read
In 1891, New York surgeon William Coley injected live bacteria into an advanced cancer patient's tumor.
This move was considered reckless by many contemporaries, then buried by the waves of radiation therapy and chemotherapy for decades, nearly disappearing into a corner of medical history.
But one hundred thirty years later, when immune checkpoint therapy swept oncology, people looked back and found Coley had already seen the right direction — he just lacked the tools to understand what he was seeing.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
01
Cancer immunology's earliest clinical practice came from surgeon William Coley's 1891 attempts to stimulate the immune system with bacteria to treat tumors — half a century before T cells were discovered.
02
Coley's Toxins were sidelined by radiation therapy and chemotherapy due to unstable efficacy and lack of theoretical support, but the core idea — activating the immune system to fight tumors — was proven correct.
03
1976 BCG approval for bladder cancer was Coley's approach's formal return seventy years later; 2011 checkpoint therapy approval was the approach's full maturation.
04
Modern researchers are using immunological tools to reanalyze Coley's historical cases, trying to extract information valuable for modern combination immunotherapy design.
05
Coley's story's core lesson: on the correct direction, lacking mechanism understanding leads to unstable results — but that doesn't equal a wrong direction. When tools catch up, the direction's value finally becomes visible.
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