Search

Immunotherapy is an alternative to more traditional forms of anticancer therapy that has the ability to activate tumour-specific humoral and cellular immune responses. As immunotherapeutic effects occur via mechanisms that are distinct from traditional therapies, such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, cancer vaccines represent an additional treatment option with an entirely different spectrum of toxicities. This allows for the use of immunotherapy in conjunction with existing treatment options. This review describes several recent antitumour vaccines that employ whole tumour cells, antigen mimicry, antigen-pulsed dendritic cells and recombinant viruses to deliver antigen for the generation of an effective antitumour immune response. With an improved understanding of tumour immunology as well as the events that are required to generate an optimal immune response, the possibility of designing effective cancer vaccine approaches that induce both humoral and cellular responses has become even more realistic.