Vaccines to treat cancer‐an old approach whose time has arrived

Abstract

There are extensive DNA changes in tumor cells and the genes of tumor cells continuously mutate at a high rate. While this can provide therapeutic targets, it makes it unlikely that an agent that is selective for a single target will work against all cells in a tumor. However, it may be possible to use tumor epitopes as sentinels to engage adaptive and innate immunological mechanisms and create a tumor destructive environment effective also against variant cells that have lost a given antigen or their ability to present it. We hypothesize that therapeutic tumor vaccines, in combination with the targeting, to tumors, of costimulatory molecules such as anti‐CD137scFv, or lymphokines such as GMCSF, will expand anti‐tumor responses for therapeutic benefit when used as an adjunct to surgery and chemotherapy. J. Cell. Biochem. 102: 291–300, 2007.