Advancement insights in cancer vaccines: mechanisms, types, and clinical applications

Immunotherapy can treat cancer by boosting the immune system to mark and destroy cancer cells. Cancer vaccine is a promising therapeutic strategy in immunotherapy. Cancer vaccines are divided into four groups according to different preparation techniques: cell-based vaccine, virus-based vaccine, peptide-based vaccine, and nucleic acid-based vaccine. Cancer vaccines can be given with traditional treatments or another immunotherapy to give better results and overcome tumor resistance. The cancer vaccine is a promising immunotherapy that could stimulate the immune response to kill cancer cells and create immune surveillance. However, much work is still needed to identify neoantigens, optimize the vaccination platform, and develop combination therapy to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. This review highlights the mechanism of action of cancer vaccines, the main four groups of cancer vaccines regarding their development, research progress, and clinical applications, and how to assess immune response following cancer vaccination.