Cancer cells are able to escape from the immune system by inhibiting T lymphocytes activation. Such inhibition is through some immune checkpoints, such as cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), and other molecules. New antibodies against these two checkpoints, i.e., CTLA-4 and PD-1, have been approved by US FDA in treating melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Other tumor types are being evaluated by numerous clinical trials. In addition to these checkpoint inhibitors, other immune-based therapies also have promising anti-tumor activities. For example, the autologous dendritic cells (DC) vaccine, sipuleucel-T, and the oncolytic virus talimogene laherparepvec (genetically modified oncolytic HSV-1 virus), have been approved by FDA for prostate cancer and melanoma, respectively. The most interesting investigational agents under FDA evaluation are the adoptive transfer of T cells engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), which have shown impressive clinical benefit in haematological cancers in many clinical trials. There are over 100 genetically modified T cells investigational products including 30% CAR-T cells products (most targeting at CD-19) under clinical investigation in US now. In this coming era of immuno-oncology, a plethora of checkpoint inhibitors, cell vaccines, oncolytic virus and CAR-T cells will challenge the current practice of medical oncology. It will become an important issue about how to combine these novel immunotherapies with current chemotherapy, radiation and targeted therapy.