Safety and Efficacy of Personalized Cancer Vaccines in Combination With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy can induce sustained responses in patients with cancers in a broad range of tissues, however, these treatments require the optimized combined therapeutic strategies. Despite immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have lasting clinical benefit, researchers are trying to combine them with other treatment modalities, and among them the combination with personalized cancer vaccines is attractive. Neoantigens, arising from mutations in cancer cells, can elicit strong immune response without central tolerance and out-target effects, which is a truly personalized method. Growing studies show that the combination can elevate the antitumor efficacy with acceptable safety and minimal additional toxicity compared with single agent vaccine or ICI. Herein, we have searched these preclinical and clinical trials and summarized safety and efficacy of personalized cancer vaccines combined with ICIs in several malignancies. Meanwhile, we discuss the rationale of the combination and future challenges.

OAS3 is a Co-Immune Biomarker Associated With Tumour Microenvironment, Disease Staging, Prognosis, and Treatment Response in Multiple Cancer Types

“…We examined the association of OAS3 with 47 immune checkpoint-associated genes in 33 cancers using Pearson correlation analysis. Neoantigens are abnormal proteins derived from “nonsynonymous mutations” from biological events such as point mutations, deletion mutations, and gene fusions and are specific to tumour cells ( Liao and Zhang, 2021 ; Xu et al, 2021 ). The immune activity of tumour neoantigens can be used to design and synthesise neoantigen vaccines according to the conditions of the bulge of the swollen cell; these vaccines can be used to immunise patients to achieve therapeutic effects ( Chen et al, 2021b ).…”

Current Immunotherapeutic Approaches for Malignant Gliomas

“…However, treatment with immune check inhibitors alone often fails to produce an immune response to the tumor. This is because glioblastomas tend to be “cold” tumors that contain no or few immune cells and are not sensitive to immune check inhibitors [ 131 ]. Therefore, to reduce the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment with immune check inhibitors and maximize antitumor efficacy with personalized vaccines, the combined therapy of personalized vaccines and immune check inhibitors has been attempted.…”

On the Immunotherapy for Tumors

“…Inducing stronger anti-tumor effects by the combined use of neoantigen-based personalized tumor vaccinations and ICIs is a useful way to treat "cold tumors" (30)(31)(32). For instance, anti-PD-1 antibodies can be coupled with allogeneic cell vaccines or autologous dendritic cell vaccines for prostate cancer; the NT-001 and NT-002 studies examined NEO-PV-01.…”