Cancer Vaccines. Any Future?

Abstract

The idea that vaccination can be used to fight cancer is not new. Approximately 100 years ago, researchers attempted to stimulate a tumor-specific, therapeutic immune response to tumors by injecting patients with cells and extracts from their own tumors, or tumors of the same type from different individuals. During the last decade, great efforts have been made to develop immunotherapeutic approaches for the treatment of malignant diseases as alternatives to traditional chemo- and radiotherapy. A quintessential goal of immunotherapy in cancer is treatment with vaccines that elicit potent anti-tumor immune responses without side effects. In this article, we have attempted to review some of the most problematic issues facing the development of cancer vaccines. With the prospect of immunosuppression, an ill-designed cancer vaccine can be more harmful than a no-benefit therapy. We have noted that "immunoediting" and "immunodominance" are the premier setbacks in peptide-based vaccines and therefore it appears necessary not only to manipulate the activity of a vast number of principal components but also to finely tune their concentrations in time and space. In the face of all these quandaries, it is at least doubtful that any reliable anti-cancer vaccine strategy will emerge in the near future.

The Adjuvanticity of an O. volvulus-Derived rOv-ASP-1 Protein in Mice Using Sequential Vaccinations and in Non-Human Primates

“…Vaccines remain the most effective means of preventing or eradicating infectious diseases, and there are ongoing efforts to apply active immunization approaches to prevent and treat autoimmune diseases and cancer [35,36]. Adjuvants potentiate antigen-specific immune responses and can be a key element of vaccine effectiveness [1,37,38].…”

Tumor abolition and antitumor immunostimulation by physico-chemical tumor nbsp ablation

“…A major long time effort was devoted to developing anti cancer vaccines. Currently there are several vaccine types in clinical studies these include tumor cells, peptides and proteins, dendritic cell-Ag combinations, and recombinant vectors (For review see (14,15)).…”

Harnessing the immune system in the battle against breast cancer

“…Cancer vaccines are a form of active immunization against tumor-specific antigens designed to stimulate immune responses directed against cancer cells, rather than prevent disease as in the canonical sense of the term ‘vaccine’. Many different approaches have been utilized to generate cancer vaccines, including whole tumor cells, whole cell lysates, peptides, glycosylated antigens, nucleic acids, and viruses [ 155 , 156 ]. When these vaccines are delivered, they elicit innate immune responses resulting in phagocytosis and processing of antigens by APCs.…”