Your immune system is your body’s defense against infection and disease. All vaccine injections (shots) work by training your immune system to defend your body against things that can harm you. Vaccines help your body fight bacteria, viruses, and cells that are abnormal (not normal), including cancer cells.
There are 2 main types of cancer vaccines that can protect you against cancer in different ways:
- Therapeutic cancer vaccines
- Preventive cancer vaccines
Therapeutic cancer vaccines
Therapeutic cancer vaccines treat cancer but do not prevent cancer.
Therapeutic cancer vaccines train your immune system to find harmful cells that have markers, called antigens. These antigens are linked to a certain type of cancer.
These vaccines let your immune system find and destroy the cancer cells. Therapeutic cancer vaccines have specific antigens combined with another immune system trigger called an adjuvant.
Therapeutic cancer vaccines can:
- Stop a tumor from growing or spreading.
- Destroy cancer cells still in the body after treatments like surgery or radiation therapy.
- Keep cancer from coming back after treatment.
What are the challenges for therapeutic cancer vaccines?
- Cancer cells make molecules that can trick the immune system so it will not attack them. Even if a vaccine can switch on immune cells, those immune cells may not be able to enter the tumor. And if they do enter, they may be shut down right away.
- Cancer cells start out as normal cells. Immune cells may not see them as a threat, so it’s harder for them to find what to attack.
- It can be hard to find antigens that are linked to a type of cancer. If the antigen is on both normal and abnormal cells, the vaccine will attack the normal cells too. This causes unwanted side effects.
- The tumor may be too big. Large tumors have more cells that can fight off immune cells. This makes it harder for immune cells to attack large tumors. That’s why we may use vaccines along with other cancer treatments.
- Some people have weakened immune systems. This includes older people and many others, including people with cancer. If your immune system is weak, it may not be able to respond well enough to a vaccine. The vaccine tells the immune cells what to do, but they’re too weak to make a strong attack.
Approved therapeutic cancer vaccines
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few therapeutic cancer vaccines. They’re used to treat these cancers:
Prostate cancer vaccine
Sipuleucel-T (Provenge®) is used to treat people with prostate cancer that has metastasized (spread). To make Provenge, we first remove some of your immune cells. We expose these cells to a molecule from prostate cancer cells. Then, the cells are infused (put) back into your body. Research shows that the prostate cancer vaccine helps people with metastatic prostate cancer live longer.
Bladder cancer vaccines
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy treats people with early-stage bladder cancers. This vaccine is made from inactivated (not active) tuberculosis (TB) bacteria. This is a liquid drug that goes into your bladder through a catheter (small tube) placed in your urethra. BCG triggers an inflammatory response in your bladder that stops the tumor from growing.
Nadofaragene firadonevec (Adstiladrin®) treats people with early-stage bladder cancers that keep growing after BCG therapy. It has a weakened virus that was changed in a laboratory to trigger an immune response in the bladder. Like BCG therapy, this is a liquid drug that goes into your bladder through a catheter.
Melanoma vaccine
T-VEC (Imlygic®) is a vaccine made from an oncolytic (ON-koh-LIH-tik) virus. Oncolytic viruses are viruses that can infect and kill cancer cells. We have more information below. This vaccine treats advanced melanoma that surgery cannot completely remove. It’s made from a virus that has had changes made to its genes in a lab. These changes make the virus attack cancer cells.
Therapeutic cancer vaccine clinical trials
Many research studies, also known as clinical trials, test how well vaccines work to treat different cancers. Here are some important clinical trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK):
Pancreatic and colorectal cancer vaccines
MSK has been testing an mRNA vaccine against pancreatic cancer. Each vaccine is made just for one person so it matches the genes of their tumor.
Doctors hope the vaccine can lower the chances of pancreatic cancer coming back after surgery. This vaccine is given along with checkpoint inhibitors. These checkpoint inhibitor drugs “release the brakes” on the immune system so it can make a stronger attack against cancer. This possible treatment came through MSK’s work with BioNTech, which developed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
MSK is also testing a vaccine as a possible treatment for pancreatic and colorectal cancers. These cancers have certain changes (mutations or variants) in the KRAS gene.
The vaccine, ELI-002 2P, targets tumors with mutations in the KRAS gene. Like many other vaccines, this vaccine could be made and stored so it’s available for people right away.
Neuroblastoma vaccine
MSK is leading a clinical trial testing a vaccine for neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of nerve cells in children. The goal is to stop the neuroblastoma from coming back after other treatments. The vaccine was developed to train the immune system to always be on guard to spot and fight malignant cells.
Bladder cancer vaccine
MSK is testing an mRNA vaccine for bladder cancer. Each vaccine is made just for one person so it matches the genes of their tumor. This vaccine is given along with checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs “release the brakes” on the immune system so it can make a stronger attack against cancer.
Lung cancer vaccine
MSK is testing an mRNA vaccine for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The vaccine, V940, is made for just one person to match the genes of their tumor. The vaccine is given along with checkpoint inhibitors.
Melanoma and sarcoma vaccine
MSK is testing an mRNA vaccine (mRNA-4203) to be given along with a cellular therapy to treat melanoma or sarcoma. The cellular therapy is called IMA203 and is made from each person’s white blood cells. The mRNA-4203 vaccine may help trigger the immune system to better target and kill cancer cells.
Improving therapeutic cancer vaccines
Researchers keep making progress in the field of cancer vaccines. MSK is leading the field in developing cancer vaccines through the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK.
The latest genetic sequencing methods have made it possible to find better cancer-specific antigens for making vaccines.
Cancer cells pile up many changes in DNA, and these mutations make new, abnormal proteins in the cells. Scientists call them neoantigens. These neoantigens are new and better targets for cancer vaccines, such as the pancreatic cancer vaccine.
Combination cancer therapies
A cancer vaccine by itself may not be enough to control a tumor’s growth. As tumors develop, they make molecules that stop immune cells from doing their job. That’s why scientists more often are thinking the best approach may be to use vaccines along with other cancer therapies. Many cancer vaccines are being used along with checkpoint inhibitors.
Oncolytic virus-based vaccines
Oncolytic viruses can infect and kill cancer cells. Sometimes they are genetically changed in some way. Vaccines that use these viruses are very good at attracting immune attention. In some ways they work like antigen and adjuvant all in one.
Intratumoral therapies (in situ vaccines)
In situ (in SY-too) are words in Latin that mean “in its original place.” In situ vaccination basically uses your tumor as a vaccine. It involves injecting immune-activating drugs into the tumor. The drugs make the tumor itself provide the antigens to trigger the immune response.
Researchers are testing this method using a few immune-activating drugs, including oncolytic viruses, bacteria, antibodies, and other molecules.
I’m interested in a therapeutic cancer vaccine. How do I get one?
MSK has research studies, also called clinical trials, that explore therapeutic vaccines for some cancers. We also offer approved cancer vaccine treatments. Here’s how you can learn more.
If you’re a patient at MSK: Talk with your MSK doctor about whether a cancer vaccine clinical trial or approved cancer vaccine is right for you.
If you’re not a patient at MSK: Please call 844-929-0466. Our Care Advisors will connect you to an MSK doctor. They can talk with you about whether a cancer vaccine clinical trial or approved cancer vaccine is right for you. If they’re not good options, our Care Advisors will help you find other cancer treatments at MSK.
Preventive cancer vaccines
Most people have heard about preventive vaccines, which are the most common type of vaccine. They boost your body’s natural ability to defend against bacteria and viruses. Well-known examples of preventative vaccines are the flu shot and vaccines for polio.
You may wonder, “Can vaccines prevent cancer?” The answer is “Yes, some can.” Preventative cancer vaccines can lower your risk for cancer by protecting you from some viral infections that can cause cancer.
There are 2 preventive cancer vaccines:
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
This vaccine prevents against the HPV virus, which is very common. Almost everyone who is sexually active and not vaccinated for HPV will get the virus.
Having HPV raises your risk of getting a cancer caused by HPV, but getting the HPV vaccine can protect you. Chronic HPV infection can cause several types of cancer, including cervical cancer, head and neck cancers, anal cancer, penile cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer.
The HPV vaccine lowers your risk of getting these cancers. Talk with your healthcare provider to find out if the HPV vaccine is right for you.
Hepatitis B vaccine
Hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hep B can be a mild illness that lasts a few weeks (acute). It also can be a serious (very bad) illness that’s long-term (chronic) and can lead to liver cancer. Getting the hepatitis B vaccine lowers your risk for liver cancer.
