Vaccines for Non-Viral Cancer Prevention

Abstract

Cancer vaccines are a type of immune therapy that seeks to modulate the host’s immune system to induce durable and protective immune responses against cancer-related antigens. The little clinical success of therapeutic cancer vaccines is generally attributed to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment at late-stage diseases. The administration of cancer-preventive vaccination at early stages, such as pre-malignant lesions or even in healthy individuals at high cancer risk could increase clinical efficacy by potentiating immune surveillance and pre-existing specific immune responses, thus eliminating de novo appearing lesions or maintaining equilibrium. Indeed, research focus has begun to shift to these approaches and some of them are yielding encouraging outcomes.

Identification of tumor antigens and immune subtypes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma for mRNA vaccine development

“…In this research, we concentrate on therapeutic vaccines. Previous studies have confirmed that the therapeutic vaccines promote particular antitumor immune responses ( Bayó et al, 2021 ; Faghfuri et al, 2021 ). Currently, tumor or immune cell vaccines, peptide vaccines, viral vector vaccines and DNA or RNA vaccines are the four primary categories of tumor vaccines ( Faghfuri et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines are the two primary categories for developing tumor vaccines. While prophylactic tumor vaccines can be used in healthy individuals to prevent cancer-causing infections, therapeutic tumor vaccines are usually used in advanced cancers to remove cancer cells ( Bayó et al, 2021 ). In this research, we concentrate on therapeutic vaccines.…”

Identification of Tumor Antigens and Immune Subtypes of High-grade Serous Ovarian Cancer for mRNA Vaccine Development

“…Cancer vaccines include preventative vaccines and therapeutic vaccines. The former is mainly used in the prevention of cancer-related infections, such as hepatitis B virus vaccines and human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines, while the latter is mainly used to treat malignancy 13 . Based on composition, tumour vaccines are divided into four groups: (1) viral vector vaccines, (2) tumour cell- and immune cell-based vaccines, (3) peptide-based vaccines, and (4) nucleic acid-based vaccines 14 .…”

Identification of Tumor Antigens and Immune Subtypes for the Development of mRNA Vaccines and Individualized Immunotherapy in Soft Tissue Sarcoma

“…Tumor vaccines are mainly divided into therapeutic and preventive vaccines. Therapeutic tumor vaccines are often used in the advanced cancer to remove cancer cells, while preventive tumor vaccines can be used in healthy people to prevent cancerogenic infections (e.g., human papillomavirus or hepatitis B virus) [ 17 ]. In this study, we focused on therapeutic vaccines, which promote a specific anti-tumor immune response [ 17 , 18 ].…”

“…Therapeutic tumor vaccines are often used in the advanced cancer to remove cancer cells, while preventive tumor vaccines can be used in healthy people to prevent cancerogenic infections (e.g., human papillomavirus or hepatitis B virus) [ 17 ]. In this study, we focused on therapeutic vaccines, which promote a specific anti-tumor immune response [ 17 , 18 ]. There are currently four main types of tumor vaccines: tumor or immune cell vaccines, peptide vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and DNA or RNA vaccines [ 18 ].…”