Promising Progress in Cancer-Fighting Vaccinations

Scientists are making headway in the creation of vaccines that could help in the treatment of cancer.

“An effective anticancer vaccine is not only going to allow us to put pressure on maybe a driver antigen or multiple driver antigens in tumors, but also allow us to get this epitope spreading. That is going to help us fighting the tumor as it evolves,” explains Erika Crosby, a cancer immunologist at Duke University.

A preventative cancer vaccine is problematic because it is not currently possible to predict what cell mutation might occur, leading to the formation of cancer. Therefore, researchers are working on a therapeutic vaccination model. In this model, the vaccine will introduce one or more tumor antigens to the immune system, prompting these cells to activate against the antigen and target and destroy the tumor. Cancer is difficult in a way that many viruses are not in that it is expecting an immune response. “You have to think about all the things that cancer has done to the immune response to favour its survival, and that’s a tough mountain to overcome,” explains Brian Czerniecki, a physician-scientist at Moffitt Cancer Center. However, the current advancement in these vaccines could allow for a more favourable prognosis in cancer patients, mainly if the tumor is found in its early stages.