AACR 2026 | What does the future hold for cancer vaccines in the solid tumor space?
Allison Betof Warner, MD, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, comments on the current state of vaccines in oncology, highlighting the ongoing debate between mRNA vaccines and peptide vaccines, as well as off-the-shelf versus patient-specific vaccines. Differences between mRNA and peptide vaccine platforms can be seen in trials assessing them with checkpoint inhibitors. This interview took place at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego, CA.
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Transcript
Yeah, I think, you know, this is an exciting time for vaccine technology. Of course, we’re grappling with a lot of things. The question of mRNA vaccines versus peptide vaccines, the questions of, you know, off-the-shelf fixed vaccines versus, you know, a patient-specific vaccine based on neoantigens. And so I think these are the open questions. One of, you know, the compelling things about this study, right, is this vaccine targets PD-L1 and IDO...
Yeah, I think, you know, this is an exciting time for vaccine technology. Of course, we’re grappling with a lot of things. The question of mRNA vaccines versus peptide vaccines, the questions of, you know, off-the-shelf fixed vaccines versus, you know, a patient-specific vaccine based on neoantigens. And so I think these are the open questions. One of, you know, the compelling things about this study, right, is this vaccine targets PD-L1 and IDO. And we recently saw data from IO-102, IO-103 plus pembrolizumab, which also targets PD-L1 and IDO, but with a peptide vaccine combined with pembrolizumab in a frontline setting. And unfortunately, that trial was statistically negative. And so, you know, I think this raises questions about differences between the mRNA vaccine platforms and peptide vaccine platforms, pros and cons of each, of course. I think certainly too early to say anything, you know, definitive based on 12 patients. But certainly, as I said, my discussion adds fuel to the fire here for, you know, suggestion that this continues to be a good approach.
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