Novel tumor derived peptides in vaccines

Traditionally, cancer vaccines have consisted of recombinant antigens or tumor cell lysates. Whole tumor-derived preparations contain predominantly normal self-proteins of no therapeutic benefit or material with the potential to induce further malignancy. Thus, the identification and administration of tumor-specific antigens rather than crude tumor preparations are desirable. The most precise selection of vaccine components exists in epitope-based peptide vaccines, which represent the minimal immunogenic region of an antigen and allow exquisite control of immune responses. The difficulties associated with peptide-based vaccines; including stability, delivery, and the diversity of human immunogenetics have now mostly been overcome by high throughput sequencing of haplotype- specific peptide ligands and the ability to modify peptides to enhance both their immunogenicity and stability. Such recent progress makes it very probable that peptide-based cancer vaccines will enter the human therapeutics marketplace in the near future.