A Brief Overview of Cancer Vaccines

Abstract

Vaccine strategies for cancer differ from infectious disease in focusing mainly on clearing rather than preventing disease. Here we survey general vaccine strategies and combination therapy concepts being investigated for cancer treatment, with a focus on tumor antigens rather than cancer-inducing viruses or microorganisms. Many tumor antigens are “altered-self” and tend to arouse weaker immune responses than “foreign” antigens expressed by infectious agents. Further, unlike an infectious disease patient, a cancer patient's immune system is damaged, suppressed, or senescent and mainly tolerant of their disease. Thus, vaccine efficacy in a cancer patient will rely upon adjuvant or combination treatments that correct the inflammatory tumor microenvironment and degrade tumoral immunosuppression that dominates patient immunity. This brief overview is aimed at new researchers in cancer immunology seeking an overview of vaccine concepts to eradicate malignancy by provoking a selective immune attack.

Robust anti-tumor immunity through the integration of targeted lipid nanoparticle-based mRNA nanovaccines with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade

“…This immune response aims to halt or eradicate tumor growth, recurrence, and metastasis. Depending on the delivery vectors employed, tumor vaccines are categorized into various types: cell-based vaccines, such as tumor cell vaccines, dendritic cell vaccines, and genetically modified cell vaccines; viral vaccines; protein/peptide vaccines; DNA vaccines; and RNA vaccines [ 11 , 12 ]. Of these, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have emerged as a promising avenue due to their high safety, effectiveness, and yield profile.…”