Vaccine therapy for cancerfact or fiction?

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Abstract
In the 1890s, William B. Coley started to treat cancer patients with inoculations of bacterial extracts (Coley's toxins) to activate general systemic immunity, some of which might be directed against the tumour.1, 2 Subsequent efforts to enhance our understanding of the molecular basis of immune recognition and immune regulation of cancer cells have led to the identification of potential new targets on tumour cells, and the potential to create potent, specific cancer vaccines. In this review, we discuss the principles of tumour immunity, the tumour antigens that can be recognized by the immune system, the different types of vaccines that have been evaluated, and the potential clinical applications of these approaches.

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