Peptide vaccines for hematological malignancies: a missed promise?

Abstract

Despite the crucial aid that newly developed target therapies are providing to chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, the cure for many hematological malignancies is still an unmet need. Although available therapies are able to induce an effective debulking of the tumor, most of the time, an insidious minimal residual disease survives current treatments and it is responsible for an immediate or delayed relapse. Peptide-derived antitumor vaccines have been developed with the idea that an artificially ''educated'' immune system may exert an active specific antitumor response able to control and ultimately eradicate underlying post-treatment residual disease. This review will summarize current knowledge of peptide vaccines for hematological malignancies, trying to analyze promises and pitfalls of a safe and intelligent tool that after many years from its first appearance has not yet established its potential role as alternative immune mediated therapeutic approach for hematopoietic tumors.

Strategies for the Identification of T Cell–Recognized Tumor Antigens in Hematological Malignancies for Improved Graft-versus-Tumor Responses after Allogeneic Blood and Marrow Transplantation

“…Tumor antigens are classified according to their distribution as tumor-specific antigens (TSA), which are only expressed by the tumor, or as tumor-associated antigens (TAA), which can also be found in other normal cell types [11,13–16]. Unique tumor antigens, on the other hand, are those of patient-restricted expression whereas shared antigens are commonly present across various samples of the same histologic subtype of malignancy and on different tumor types, but not in normal tissues, except for testis and placenta.…”

Effects of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase inhibitor in non-Hodgkin lymphoma model mice

“…Thus, different approaches will be necessary for further improvements in clinical outcomes. Immunotherapies include cell-mediated immunotherapy, vaccination, cytokine therapy, antibody therapy, and biological response modifiers therapy, but their effects are currently limited [20,21]. Immunological tolerance is one of the mechanisms by which cancer cells escape host defense surveillance.…”

Current Trends in Cancer Immunotherapy

“…GEL is a polymer adjuvant based on the dispersion of highly stable sodium polyacrylate gel particles in water; IMS is a combination of micro-emulsions and an immunostimulating compound containing a special fortified mineral oil; ISA is an adjuvant consisting of a mineral oil and a surfactant from the mannide monooleate family, which can be used in the form of various types of emulsions: water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) or water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W)), cytokines such as GM-CSF, or peptides loaded into the APC [122][123][124]. A lot of different peptide-based vaccines are used for the treatment of numerous types of cancers such as glioma [125], breast cancer [126], hematopoietic tumors [127], renal cell carcinoma [128] and others. However, the peptide-based vaccination is weakly immunogenic for killing large tumors.…”