Are there different kinds of cancer vaccines?
A number of different approaches have been used to introduce TAAs to the immune system and produce an adequate immune response to destroy the cancer cells. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Modified Tumor Cells Similar to vaccines against infectious agents, these vaccines usually utilize whole, inactivated tumor cells to generate the immune response. The advantage of this is that a number of antigens are presented that the immune system can target. However, this wide range of antigens compromises the specificity of the vaccine. Also, the immune response is often weak due to the lack of co-stimulatory signals. Peptide Vaccine A peptide is a fragment of a protein that can be used as the antigen in a cancer vaccine. By introducing the appropriate peptide directly to the APCs, the vaccine can induce an immune response to cells producing that antigen. Oftentimes, the peptide vaccine is given simultaneously with chemical signals (such as hapten) that act as co-stimulatory signal
