Cancer Vaccines

Review Article By Preeti GokalKochar

Cancer Vaccines

Introduction
It is believed that any person who lives long enough will eventually get cancer. In the past, cancer was thought to be invincible. Today with advances in surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, mortality has been reduced. Still, world wide 7 million deaths per year can be attributed to cancer, 12.5% of total deaths. More recently traditional treatments have been supplemented with newer treatments like chemoprevention and cancer vaccines.  The immune system has developed to protect the body against invasion by microorganisms and prevent disease. As more information about immune cells is discovered, scientists have realized that the immune system plays a crucial role in preventing cancer.¹ The implication of this finding is that, by designing cancer vaccines, it is possible to boost the immune system to enable it to combat cancer more effectively.

Traditional vaccines have successfully prevented infectious diseases like small pox. Recently, great progress has been made in the development of vaccines against cervical cancer, caused by human papilloma virus. However, vaccine development of other types of cancers poses more challenges, since most cancers are believed not to be caused by infectious agents, but rather, defects in cellular proteins. Since these proteins are very similar to those found in normal cells, it is difficult to develop vaccines targeting the cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Indeed, most cancer vaccines will be useful for treating cancers in patients already afflicted and not for preventing cancers. The concept of a universal vaccine against cancer is not realistic since there are many types and many causes of cancers.

 To Be Continued