Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Medical Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Recent clinical trials have shown therapeutic vaccines to be promising treatment modalities against prostate cancer. Unlike preventive vaccines that teach the immune system to fight off specific microorganisms, therapeutic vaccines stimulate the immune system to recognize and attack certain cancer-associated proteins. Additional strategies are being investigated that combine vaccines and standard therapeutics, including radiation, chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and hormonal therapy, to optimize the vaccines' effects. Recent vaccine late-phase clinical trials have reported evidence of clinical benefit while maintaining excellent quality of life. One such vaccine, sipuleucel-T, was recently FDA-approved for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. Another vaccine, PSA-TRICOM, is also showing promise in completed and ongoing randomized multicenter clinical trials in both early and late stage prostate cancer. Clinical results available to date indicate that immune-based therapies could play a significant role in the treatment of prostate and other malignancies.
Written by:
Bilusic M, Heery C, Madan RA. Are you the author?
Reference: Vaccine. 2011 Jul 6. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.06.088
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21741424
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