Cancer Vaccines: A Novel Revolutionized Approach to Cancer Therapy

Over the past few decades, there has been significant advancement in the field of tumor immunotherapy. For many years vaccination against infectious diseases have been available. On the other hand very few cancer vaccines have been approved for human use. Ideal Cancer vaccines are biological response modifier work by stimulating both humoral and cellular immunity while overcoming the immunological suppression found in tumor. Two types of cancer vaccine: Prophylactic and therapeutic cancer vaccines are recommended for clinical use of individuals. HPV and HBV vaccines are the two widely used preventive vaccine used for treatment of cervical and hepatocellular carcinoma respectively and are approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In therapeutic vaccine only three are approved: Sipuleucel T-cell vaccine for treatment refractory prostatic cancer, BCG vaccine for early bladder cancer and T-VEC for inoperable melanoma. Active ingredient in all cancer vaccines is an antigen. Antigens used for formulating cancer vaccines along with adjuvants optimizes immunogenicity in it. Heterogeneity within and between cancer types, screening and identifying suitable antigen specific to tumors and selection of vaccine delivery platforms are challenges in the development of vaccines. Adoptive cell therapy, Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy are recent breakthrough for cancer treatment.