Anticancer vaccines and their future

Supplementum 01/2019 Imunoterapie

Prof. MUDr. Vladimír Vonka, DrSc.

Ústav hematologie a krevní transfuze, Praha

SUMMARY

Immunological approaches are playing an increasing role in the prophylaxis and therapy of malignant tumors. One of the strategies which are under investigation aims at the development of vaccines directed against tumor-specific antigens or oncogenic viruses. There are two types of anticancer vaccines: prophylactic and therapeutic. Thus far the most significant success has been achieved in the prevention of cancers of viral origin. Several kinds of therapeutic vaccines are presently tested in clinical trials. These include vaccines based on peptides, nucleic acids, dendritic cells, recombinant viruses and killed, genetically modified whole cancer cells. Advantages and disadvantages of each of these different prepartions are briefly discussed. It is the aim of the present research to find out the optimal way of their application.

KEY WORDS

anti-tumor vaccines, prophylactic vaccines, therapeutic vaccines, tumor-specific antigens