Immunotherapy Vaccines for Prostate Cancer Treatment

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Vaccinology

Background:

• Therapeutic tumor vaccines offer a promising treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa), especially for patients with biochemical relapse or those unsuitable for surgery.
• This review consolidates current research on therapeutic vaccines for prostate tumors and identifies challenges in their development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and synthesize recent findings on therapeutic vaccines for prostate cancer.
• To delineate challenges in the research and development of prostate cancer vaccines.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus up to August 31, 2024.
• Keywords included 'vaccine', 'prostate cancer', and 'immunotherapy'.
• Studies on various vaccine types (dendritic cell-based, antigen, nucleic acid, tumor cell) were reviewed.

Main Results:

• Therapeutic vaccines, particularly dendritic cell (DC) vaccines, exhibit favorable safety profiles with minimal adverse effects.
• These vaccines demonstrate significant clinical efficacy, with reported outcomes including PSA response rates (9.5%-58%), extended PSA doubling times (52.9%-89.7%), and improved overall survival (17.7-33.8 months).
• Other notable results include low two-year mortality rates (0%-12.5%), reduced biochemical relapse rates (42%-73%), and significant antigen-specific immune responses (33.3%-71.4%).

Conclusions:

• Clinical data confirm the tumoricidal activity of therapeutic vaccines, despite formulation and deployment complexities.
• Combining vaccines with other therapeutic modalities may improve patient outcomes.
• Future research should prioritize early intervention strategies and investigate the role of the immune system in prostate cancer development.