Synergistic Potential of Antigen-Specific Vaccines and Immunomodulatory Agents for Lung Cancer Treatment

Lung cancer is one of the most fatal cancer types, with a mortality rate of 87% in a single year. Due to the immune evasion strategies of tumor cells, several immunotherapeutic strategies failed to deliver the expected anti-tumor activity. Recent advances in immunotherapy and immunomodulatory approaches targeting lung cancer have significantly contributed to improved outcomes in the diseased population. In this line, apart from immunomodulatory and immunotherapy, therapeutic cancer vaccines are a novel intriguing aspect that are recently explored in cancer research. With increasing evidential knowledge on tumor-associated antigens, native immune response and novel antigen delivery technologies have enabled enhanced vaccine design. The ultimate goal of these therapeutic vaccines is to establish a persisting anti-tumor memory and induction of tumor regression with less or no adverse reactions. In this chapter, we summarized the different types of lung cancer vaccines and its effect on host immune response. This chapter also briefly speaks about the existing pros and cons of these vaccines and their clinical efficacy. Apart from conventional treatment options such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical treatment, this chapter discusses about the existing immunomodulators and their efficacy in treating lung cancer. Also, we have focused on emerging immunomodulatory therapeutic agents that are currently being developed to tackle lung cancer. Finally, this chapter has discussed the synergistic ability of combining vaccines and immunomodulators in lung cancer. This chapter would provide a roadmap to its reader on existing cancer vaccines, emerging immunomodulatory agents, and the effect of combinatorial treatment (vaccines and immunomodulatory agents) in treating lung cancer patients.