Cancer Vaccines and Oncolytic Viruses Exert Profoundly Lower Side Effects in Cancer Patients than Other Systemic...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pharmacology
• Immunology

Background:

• Systemic therapies like cytotoxic drugs, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies are crucial for treating metastatic and micro-metastatic cancers.
• Understanding the mechanisms and side effect profiles of these treatments is essential for optimizing patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the mechanisms and side effects of cytotoxic drugs, targeted therapies (small molecule inhibitors), and various immunotherapies.
• To analyze the incidence of major adverse events (WHO grades 3-4) across these different therapeutic modalities.

Main Methods:

• Review of studies with proven therapeutic effects on systemic cancer disease.
• Comparative analysis of reported major adverse events (WHO grades 3-4) for cytotoxic drugs, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies.
• Categorization of immunotherapies including checkpoint inhibitory antibodies, CAR T-cells, cancer vaccines, and oncolytic viruses.

Main Results:

• All analyzed systemic therapies, including cytotoxic drugs, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies (checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cells), are associated with major adverse events.
• Cancer vaccines and oncolytic viruses, a subset of immunotherapies, did not show severe side effects (WHO grades 3-4) in the reviewed studies.
• A distinct difference in the occurrence of severe adverse events was observed between cancer vaccines/oncolytic viruses and other systemic treatments.

Conclusions:

• Cancer vaccines and oncolytic viruses represent a safer alternative regarding severe adverse events compared to cytotoxic drugs, targeted therapies, and other immunotherapies.
• The differing safety profiles warrant further investigation into the underlying mechanisms responsible for the observed side effect differences.