SITC 2021 | An update on cancer vaccines

Howard Kaufman, MD, FACS, Ankyra Therapeutics and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, gives an update on cancer vaccines and explains how they might be integrated in cancer treatment regimens. In recent years, progress in technologies such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) has enabled rapidly tumor genotyping. WGS has also demonstrated the frequent occurrence of tumor neoantigens, suggesting that instead of engineering a vaccine against one target antigen present in all tumors, cancer vaccines should be tailored to each patient. In addition, better understanding of the cancer immunity cycle has allowed to design strategies to target the tumor more efficiently. Dr Kaufman also comments on the potential use of cancer vaccines in adoptive T-cell therapies to enhance T-cell persistence in patients. Recent studies have additionally reported the benefit of using cancer vaccines in the preventive setting rather than in the therapeutic setting. This interview took place during the 36th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.