Recent Advances in Cancer Vaccines – An Update

Cancer related deaths have shown a progressive increase over the past decade and the newer cases of cancers are estimated to rise in 2030. The current treatment modalities available for cancer are highly toxic, impair quality of life and develop resistance with course of time. Thus, there is a growing necessity for the prevention and cure of cancer related morbidity and mortality. One of the promising approaches for cancer prevention could be immunization with specific vaccines. The latest advances in immunology have led to the development of effective cancer vaccines to enhance immunity against tumour cells. Moreover, the occurrence of cancer with infectious agents like Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human Papilloma virus (HPV) as well as their prevention with specific cancer vaccines has further confirmed the role of immunotherapy in cancer. Though prophylactic vaccines are found to be more successful in cancer prevention, in the present scenario most of the vaccines under development are therapeutic cancer vaccines. Cancer vaccines stimulate the immune system and attack specific cancer cells without harming the normal cells. The major cancer vaccines under development to target tumour cells includes antigen vaccines, whole cell tumour vaccines, dendritic cell vaccine, viral vectors, DNA vaccines and idiotype vaccines. Apart from this, measures to produce patientspecific cancer vaccines from patients own tumour cells and a "universal" vaccine to provide immunity against cancer cells of any origin are being investigated. Hence this review gives an overview of various strategies involved in the development of cancer vaccines and the currently approved vaccines available for the prevention of cancer.