Worth a Pound of Cure? Emerging Strategies and Challenges in Cancer Immunoprevention

Authors

Saurav D Haldar
Eduardo Vilar
Anirban Maitra
Neeha Zaidi

Publication Date

9-1-2023

Journal

Cancer Prevention Research

Abstract

Cancer immunoprevention applies immunologic approaches such as vaccines to prevent, rather than to treat or cure, cancer. Despite limited success in the treatment of advanced disease, the development of cancer vaccines to intercept premalignant states is a promising area of current research. These efforts are supported by the rationale that vaccination in the premalignant setting is less susceptible to mechanisms of immune evasion compared with established cancer. Prophylactic vaccines have already been developed for a minority of cancers mediated by oncogenic viruses (e.g., hepatitis B and human papillomavirus). Extending the use of preventive vaccines to non-virally driven malignancies remains an unmet need to address the rising global burden of cancer. This review provides a broad overview of clinical trials in cancer immunoprevention with an emphasis on emerging vaccine targets and delivery platforms, translational challenges, and future directions.

Keywords

Humans, Cancer Vaccines, Antigens, Neoplasm, Immunotherapy, Precancerous Conditions, Vaccination, Papillomavirus Vaccines

DOI

10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-22-0478

PMID

37001882

PMCID

PMC10548442

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

9-1-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Published Open-Access

yes