Next-generation cancer vaccines and emerging immunotherapy combinations

• Published in: Trends in cancer Vol. 10; no. 8; p. 749
• Main Authors: Brandenburg, Anne, Heine, Annkristin, Brossart, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.08.2024
• Subjects: Adoptive Transfer - methods; Animals; Antigens, Neoplasm - immunology; Cancer Vaccines - administration & dosage; Cancer Vaccines - immunology; Cancer Vaccines - therapeutic use; Combined Modality Therapy - methods; Humans; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - pharmacology; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Immunotherapy - methods; Immunotherapy - trends; Immunotherapy, Adoptive - adverse effects; Immunotherapy, Adoptive - methods; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - therapy; immunotherapy combination; cancer vaccines; CAR-T cells; immune checkpoints
• ISSN: 2405-8025
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2024.06.003

Therapeutic cancer vaccines have been a subject of research for several decades as potential new weapons to tackle malignancies. Their goal is to induce a long-lasting and efficient antitumour-directed immune response, capable of mediating tumour regression, preventing tumour progression, and eradicating minimal residual disease, while avoiding major adverse effects. Development of new vaccine technologies and antigen prediction methods has led to significant improvements in cancer vaccine efficacy. However, for their successful clinical application, certain obstacles still need to be overcome, especially tumour-mediated immunosuppression and escape mechanisms. In this review, we introduce therapeutic cancer vaccines and subsequently discuss combination approaches of next-generation cancer vaccines and existing immunotherapies, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and adoptive cell transfer/cell-based immunotherapies.