Research in Personalized Cancer Vaccine

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 7461

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
Interests: cancer immunotherapy; vaccines; treg cells; adoptive cell therapy; immunomodulation

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Co-Guest Editor
Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
Interests: immunotherapy; therapeutic vaccination; dendritic cells; antigen targeting; tumor neoantigens

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Modulation of the immune system is revolutionizing the fight against cancer. Although most patients have an immune response specific for their cancer, cancerous cells find ways to evade immunosurveillance. Existing immunotherapies, such as the immunocheckpoint blockers that aim to reactivate that immune response, have shown positive effects in a significant proportion of patients. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, these immunomodulatory strategies are not curative and other ways to prime and/or boost the antitumor response are urgently needed. The idea of treating cancers by using vaccines has been around for many years. In this scenario, the identification of key tumor-associated antigens for vaccine development has been intensively pursued. However, tumor-associated antigen vaccines have not offered exciting results in most of the clinical trials carried out, probably because of the immunotolerance against self-antigens, the poor immunogenicity of vaccine formulations, or the presence of a highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The incredible progress in Next Generation Sequencing techniques has made it possible to decipher complex mixtures of RNA and DNA samples and to identify the differences that make each patient’s tumor unique. This knowledge is being applied in the identification of new tumor antigens for the design and manufacture of personalized cancer vaccines. In addition to their identification as potential rejection antigens, studies on vaccine formulation, delivery systems, adjuvants and immunomodulators are needed to prepare efficient vaccines than can be administered to patients in a timely manner. Harnessing the immune system’s natural ability to find and kill cancer cells is the best way to treat cancer in the long term.

This Special Issue will highlight the current state of the art of all these relevant aspects for the design of personalized cancer vaccines and the future prospects for improving their efficacy.

Prof. Dr. Juan José Lasarte
Prof. Dr. Pablo Sarobe
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • neoantigens
  • tumor associated antigens
  • adjuvants
  • immunomodulation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1671 KiB  
Article
Safety and Immunogenicity of Combined DNA-Polyethylenimine and Oral Bacterial Idiotypic Vaccine for Patients with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Pilot Study
by Alexander Meleshko, Nadzeya Piatrouskaya, Katsiaryna Vashkevich, Dzmitry Lutskovich, Chuan Wang, Dmitri Dormeshkin, Natalia Savelyeva and Mikalai Katsin
Cancers 2022, 14(14), 3298; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143298 - 6 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2283
Abstract
We report, in brief, the results of a phase I, non-randomized study of idiotypic DNA vaccination in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (ISRCTN31090206). The DNA sequence of lymphoma-derived immunoglobulin variable regions was used as a tumor-specific antigen fused to the potato virus X [...] Read more.
We report, in brief, the results of a phase I, non-randomized study of idiotypic DNA vaccination in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (ISRCTN31090206). The DNA sequence of lymphoma-derived immunoglobulin variable regions was used as a tumor-specific antigen fused to the potato virus X coat protein. A conjugate of plasmid DNA with polyethylenimine was used for the intramuscular injections, followed by a boost with an oral live-attenuated Salmonella vaccine carrying the same plasmid. The patients with a complete or partial response to previous chemotherapy received one or two courses of vaccination, including four injections at monthly intervals. The vaccine was well tolerated, with low-grade adverse events. The T-cell immune responses were assessed by ELISpot, at last vaccine, one week and one month post-vaccination, and were detected in 11/14 (78.6%) of the patients. In cases of progression requiring chemotherapy, or the presence of a positive MRD after the first course of vaccination, the patients underwent a second course of vaccination. At the end point, 6/19 vaccinated patients had disease stabilization, while 13/19 were in complete remission. The overall survival was 100% at follow-up, of a median of 2.3 years. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research in Personalized Cancer Vaccine)
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Review

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14 pages, 889 KiB  
Review
Neoantigen Vaccines; Clinical Trials, Classes, Indications, Adjuvants and Combinatorial Treatments
by Jenni Viivi Linnea Niemi, Aleksandr V. Sokolov and Helgi B. Schiöth
Cancers 2022, 14(20), 5163; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14205163 - 21 Oct 2022
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4137
Abstract
Personalized neoantigen vaccines are a highly specific cancer treatment designed to induce a robust cytotoxic T-cell attack against a patient’s cancer antigens. In this study, we searched ClinicalTrials.gov for neoantigen vaccine clinical trials and systematically analyzed them, a total of 147 trials. Peptide [...] Read more.
Personalized neoantigen vaccines are a highly specific cancer treatment designed to induce a robust cytotoxic T-cell attack against a patient’s cancer antigens. In this study, we searched ClinicalTrials.gov for neoantigen vaccine clinical trials and systematically analyzed them, a total of 147 trials. Peptide vaccines are the largest neoantigen vaccine type, comprising up to 41% of the clinical trials. However, mRNA vaccines are a growing neoantigen vaccine group, especially in the most recent clinical trials. The most common cancer types in the clinical trials are glioma, lung cancer, and malignant melanoma, being seen in more than half of the clinical trials. Small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer are the largest individual cancer types. According to the results from the clinical trials, neoantigen vaccines work best when combined with other cancer treatments, and popular combination treatments include immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Additionally, half of the clinical trials combined neoantigen vaccines with an adjuvant to boost the immune effects, with poly-ICLC being the most recurrent adjuvant choice. This study clarifies the rapid clinical trial development of personalized neoantigen vaccines as an emerging class of cancer treatment with increasingly diversified opportunities in classes, indications, and combinatorial treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research in Personalized Cancer Vaccine)
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