Author(s) :

Rithvik Nasika.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Cancer has persisted as one of the major causative agents of death around the world, fueled by factors associated with the uncontrolled growth of mutated cells that are normally difficult to recognize by the body’s immune system or to combat using conventional therapeutic approaches that include chemotherapy, irradiation, and surgery. This paper reviews various cancer vaccines, which have emerged as among the most promising immunotherapies. Cancer vaccines induce anticancer responses by activating the body’s adaptive immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Fundamentally, cancer vaccines fall into several categories, including preventive, cell-based, nucleic acid-based, peptide/protein-based, and oncolytic viral vaccines. Currently, several clinical studies indicate that several forms of cancer vaccines offer effective promise in their ability to induce effective T cell responses in cancer patients, although these vaccines remain far from having achieved widespread clinical implementation due to several underlying challenges associated with cancer vaccines, including immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments, antigens’ immunogenicity, and the high production and engineering complexity of personalized vaccines. Nonetheless, cancer vaccines show unequivocal promise as one of the most effective approaches in cancer therapy in the near future.