[Tumor vaccines and peptide-loaded dendritic cells (DCs)]

Vaccines are usually intended to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Due to increasing knowledge about the immune system and its role in malignant disease, the development of therapeutic vaccines, which are intended to treat established tumors, has begun. For the induction of therapeutic immunity towards tumors, either tumor-specific or overexpressed antigens can be used. Tumor-specific antigens are mainly or exclusively expressed in tumors. It is assumed that they can thus be more easily recognized by the immune system than overexpressed antigens. Overexpressed antigens are expressed in both tumors and healthy tissues and therefore bear the risk of autoimmunity. In this review article, we discuss different approaches of therapeutic cancer vaccinations based on cells and on other drug substances. Moreover, we address the possibilities of authorizing cancer vaccines in the EU and in Germany.