ASCO 2026 | Neoantigen vaccines mark new era in solid tumor immunotherapy
Mark Yarchoan, MD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, discusses the evolution of cancer vaccines in solid tumors, noting that despite past failures, the field is experiencing an inflection point with vaccines starting to show promise, particularly with the shift towards targeting neoantigens. This new approach is more effective as neoantigens are unique to cancer cells and can induce specific responses, unlike previous vaccines that targeted tumor-associated antigens. This interview took place during the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting in Chicago, IL.
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Transcript
Over the past few decades, many, many cancer vaccines have failed in the clinic. And, you know, I think that comes at a time when checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the landscape of cancer immunotherapy. But I think we’re at this inflection point where cancer vaccines are starting to work. And we really have, I would say, fallen forward in this space. We know that with checkpoint inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors tend to work in tumors with lots of mutations, high neoantigen burden...
Over the past few decades, many, many cancer vaccines have failed in the clinic. And, you know, I think that comes at a time when checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the landscape of cancer immunotherapy. But I think we’re at this inflection point where cancer vaccines are starting to work. And we really have, I would say, fallen forward in this space. We know that with checkpoint inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors tend to work in tumors with lots of mutations, high neoantigen burden. And so that really tells us that responses to neoantigens are important. And I think we’re rediscovering that cancer vaccines can induce those neoantigen responses. So I think what I would say is that in the past decades, we were using less powerful vaccines targeting mostly tumor-associated antigens. And now we’ve shifted towards targeting neoantigens, things that are only in the cancer that are not in any normal cells. So that is a major difference. And I think that that has reinvigorated the field.
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