Peptidbasierte Immuntherapie
摘要
After decades of falling short of their potential, therapeutic cancer vaccines have recently entered the spotlight of modern immunotherapy development. This low-side-effect approach induces a tumor-specific T‑cell response targeting peptides presented by human leukocyte antigens (HLA) on the tumor cell surface. It holds the potential to mediate long-term immune memory and thus sustainable cancer control. A variety of prerequisites have to be addressed to enable broad and successful application of this therapeutic approach to combating cancer. These challenges comprise the selection of tumor antigens as well as potent adjuvant and peptide formulations to enhance and prolong the immune response, defining the right timepoint of application and the optimal combinatorial therapy, and, finally, deciding on the level of vaccine personalization—from standardized vaccine cocktails to customized approaches adapted to the patient’s individual tumor.