Discovery and development of therapeutic cancer vaccines.
Acres B, Limacher JM, Bonnefoy J.
Transgene SA, Department of Medical Affairs, 11 rue de Molsheim, 67082 Strasbourg, France. acres@transgene.fr
Over the past century, various efforts have been made to induce the rejection of cancerous tissues by the stimulation of an immune reaction, using both non-specific and antigen-specific strategies. Non-specific approaches attempt to augment an immune response in and around the tumor by injecting immune stimulating substances, for example, bacterial extracts, cytokines or gene therapy agents. Antigen-specific approaches use either the tumor cells themselves as a source of antigens or incorporate identified tumor-associated antigens into vaccines. This review describes antigen-specific therapeutic cancer vaccines that are currently in development.
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PMID: 17436554 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]