Cancer vaccines: from treatment to prevention
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Doctors Maria Kaparelou and Thanos Dimopoulos of the Alexandra Hospital in Greece reviewed recent data on cancer vaccines and strategies currently in clinical development.
For decades, researchers have explored using vaccines against cancer, building on the success of vaccines against infectious diseases, which have prevented an estimated 154 million deaths worldwide in the last 50 years. More than 2,000 cancer antigens have now been identified, and understanding how the immune system recognizes and destroys cancer cells has improved.
These vaccines combine an antigen, the target for the immune system, with an immune-boosting agent and a delivery system. Once administered, immune cells process the antigens and present them to lymphocytes, activating the adaptive immune system and creating a targeted response against cancer cells. Some vaccines target proteins expressed differently in cancer cells, while others focus on neoantigens created by mutations within the tumor.
Several vaccine approaches are already in use, including sipuleucel-T for prostate cancer, BCG for bladder cancer, and talimogene laherparepvec for melanoma. Researchers are also developing personalized vaccines based on an individual’s tumor mutations using new sequencing technologies and artificial intelligence. A study of mRNA-4157, a personalized vaccine given with pembrolizumab to melanoma patients, showed a 76.6% recurrence-free survival rate after 23 months, compared to 60% with pembrolizumab alone.
Scientists are also beginning to explore vaccines to prevent cancer in people at high risk, such as those with Lynch syndrome.
