[Vaccination strategies for solid tumors--fundamentals, limitations, and recent results]

Recent studies clearly prove the existence of cancer immunosurveillance and justify renewed hope for the development of effective vaccination therapies for solid tumors. The identification of tumor-associated antigens has provided researchers with promising targets for T cell-based immunotherapies. New monitoring techniques will facilitate the correlation of immunological effectiveness of vaccination strategies with clinical results. In order to acchieve greater immunological effectiveness, a tumor vaccine should incorporate both CD4+ and CD8+ epitopes. Adjuvants should be systematically tested for their potential to break immunological tolerance and mechanisms that enable cancer cells to escape from immunosurveillance should be further investigated. This approach will open new perspectives in the development of tumor vaccines for solid tumors. At the same time, future vaccination studies should include patients in earlier stages of their disease or in the adjuvant setting in order to avoid on overwhelming effect of mechanisms that help tumors to evade immunosurveillance.