Abstract
The use of cancer vaccines to induce anti-tumor immune responses holds huge potential to complement traditional cancer therapies. Cancer vaccines are designed to re-calibrate the existing host-tumour interaction, tipping the balance from tumor acceptance towards tumor control to the benefit of the cancer patient. Additionally, the highly specific character of the host immune response minimizes the risk for unattractive adverse effects associated with most other cancer therapies in use today. It is now well recognized that the immune system is in fact capable of recognizing spontaneous cancers. Thus, even in the absence of treatment, cells of the immune system in the cancer patients specifically recognize cancer cells. This review will focus on various strategic considerations in the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines. We will especially address the following five aspects of therapeutic vaccination against cancer: 1) Targets that elicit immune responses against tumors with the focus on proteins that are essential for function, survival and growth of cancer cells. 2) Adjuvants that enhance the efficiency of cancer vaccines either by eliciting cellular or humoral immunity. 3) The activation of appropriate immune responses in patients. Various effector mechanisms of both the innate and the adoptive immune system contribute to effective eradication of cancer cells in many different ways. 4) Combination therapy. Therapeutic vaccination can be combined with standard as well as experimental therapies, such as chemotherapy and adoptive immunotherapy, with synergistic effect. 5) Commercial cancer vaccines in clinical phase III testing. The results of several clinical phase II and III studies leaves little doubt that cancer vaccines will be part of standard anticancer treatment in the future. However, several challenges remain to explore the full potential of therapeutic vaccination against cancer.
Keywords: Cancer, vaccine, targets, adjuvants, combination therapy, phase III trials
Current Cancer Therapy Reviews
Title: Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines
Volume: 6 Issue: 2
Author(s): Stine Kiaer Larsen, Inge Marie Svane, Per thor Straten and Mads Hald Andersen
Affiliation:
Keywords: Cancer, vaccine, targets, adjuvants, combination therapy, phase III trials
Abstract: The use of cancer vaccines to induce anti-tumor immune responses holds huge potential to complement traditional cancer therapies. Cancer vaccines are designed to re-calibrate the existing host-tumour interaction, tipping the balance from tumor acceptance towards tumor control to the benefit of the cancer patient. Additionally, the highly specific character of the host immune response minimizes the risk for unattractive adverse effects associated with most other cancer therapies in use today. It is now well recognized that the immune system is in fact capable of recognizing spontaneous cancers. Thus, even in the absence of treatment, cells of the immune system in the cancer patients specifically recognize cancer cells. This review will focus on various strategic considerations in the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines. We will especially address the following five aspects of therapeutic vaccination against cancer: 1) Targets that elicit immune responses against tumors with the focus on proteins that are essential for function, survival and growth of cancer cells. 2) Adjuvants that enhance the efficiency of cancer vaccines either by eliciting cellular or humoral immunity. 3) The activation of appropriate immune responses in patients. Various effector mechanisms of both the innate and the adoptive immune system contribute to effective eradication of cancer cells in many different ways. 4) Combination therapy. Therapeutic vaccination can be combined with standard as well as experimental therapies, such as chemotherapy and adoptive immunotherapy, with synergistic effect. 5) Commercial cancer vaccines in clinical phase III testing. The results of several clinical phase II and III studies leaves little doubt that cancer vaccines will be part of standard anticancer treatment in the future. However, several challenges remain to explore the full potential of therapeutic vaccination against cancer.
Export Options
About this article
Cite this article as:
Kiaer Larsen Stine, Marie Svane Inge, thor Straten Per and Hald Andersen Mads, Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines, Current Cancer Therapy Reviews 2010; 6 (2) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/157339410791202529
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/157339410791202529 |
Print ISSN 1573-3947 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1875-6301 |
Related Books

- Author Guidelines
- Bentham Author Support Services (BASS)
- Graphical Abstracts
- Fabricating and Stating False Information
- Research Misconduct
- Post Publication Discussions and Corrections
- Publishing Ethics and Rectitude
- Increase Visibility of Your Article
- Archiving Policies
- Peer Review Workflow
- Order Your Article Before Print
- Promote Your Article
- Manuscript Transfer Facility
- Editorial Policies
- Allegations from Whistleblowers
Related Articles
-
(Phospho)lipid-based Nanosystems for Skin Administration
Current Pharmaceutical Design High Throughput Screening for Bioactive Components from Traditional Chinese Medicine
Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening The Effect of Lycopene on the PI3K/Akt Signalling Pathway in Prostate Cancer
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry miR-221/222 Confers Radioresistance in Glioblastoma Cells Through Activating Akt Independent of PTEN Status
Current Molecular Medicine Prodrugs in Genetic Chemoradiotherapy
Current Pharmaceutical Design siRNA Silencing of Gene Expression in Trabecular Meshwork: RhoA siRNA Reduces IOP in Mice
Current Molecular Medicine Protein Phosphatase 1 and Its Complexes in Carcinogenesis
Current Cancer Drug Targets Editorial [Hot Topic: The Fabisch-Symposium 2009 on Targeted Tumor Therapies(Guest Editors: C. Bachran and H. Fuchs)]
Current Drug Targets Engineered Magnetic Core-Shell Structures
Current Pharmaceutical Design Ribozymes, DNAzymes and Small Interfering RNAs as Therapeutics
Current Drug Targets Neddylation Pathway as a Novel Anti-cancer Target: Mechanistic Investigation and Therapeutic Implication
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry A Random Forest-Induced Distance-Based Measure of Physiologic al Dysregulation
Current Aging Science Patent Selections:
Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery Synthesis of Hybrids of Dihydropyrimidine and Pyridazinone as potential Anti-Breast Cancer Agents
Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry P-glycoprotein Inhibition as a Therapeutic Approach for Overcoming Multidrug Resistance in Cancer: Current Status and Future Perspectives
Current Cancer Drug Targets Emerging Role of Stem Cells - Derived Exosomes as Valuable Tools for Cardiovascular Therapy
Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy α<sub>IIb</sub>β<sub>3</sub>-integrin Ligands: Abciximab and Eptifibatide as Proapoptotic Factors in MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cells
Current Drug Targets The Cellular Pharmacokinetics of HIV Protease Inhibitors: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives
Current Drug Metabolism An Effective Approach of CT Lung Segmentation Using Possibilistic Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm and Classification of Lung Cancer Cells with the Aid of Soft Computing Techniques
Current Medical Imaging Furan-induced Oxidative Stress and DNA Damage in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Rats’ Blood and Protective Effect of Lycopene
Current Nutrition & Food Science