Affiliation:
1. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy
2. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Abstract
Is it possible to have an available vaccine that eradicates cancer? Starting from this question, this article tries to verify the state of the art, proposing a different approach to the issue. The variety of cancers and different and often unknown causes of cancer impede, except in some cited cases, the creation of a classical vaccine directed at the causative agent. The efforts of the scientific community are oriented toward stimulating the immune systems of patients, thereby preventing immune evasion, and heightening chemotherapeutic agents effects against cancer. However, the results are not decisive, because without any warning signs, metastasis often occurs. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on a vaccine that must be administered to a patient in order to prevent metastasis; metastasis is an event that leads to death, and thus, preventing it could transform cancer into a chronic disease. We underline the fact that the field has not been studied in depth, and that the complexity of metastatic processes should not be underestimated. Then, with the aim of identifying the target of a cancer vaccine, we draw attention to the presence of the paradoxical actions of different mechanisms, pathways, molecules, and immune and non-immune cells characteristic of the tumor microenvironment at the primary site and pre-metastatic niche in order to exclude possible vaccine candidates that have opposite effects/behaviors; after a meticulous evaluation, we propose possible targets to develop a metastasis-targeting vaccine. We conclude that a change in the current concept of a cancer vaccine is needed, and the efforts of the scientific community should be redirected toward a metastasis-targeting vaccine, with the increasing hope of eradicating cancer.
Subject
Pharmacology (medical),Infectious Diseases,Drug Discovery,Pharmacology,Immunology
Reference254 articles.
1. Cancer metastasis: Building a framework;Gupta;Cell,2006
2. Gavin, G.P. (2023, August 18). Cancer Vaccines: Preventive, Therapeutic, Personalized. Cancer Research Institute. Available online: https://www.cancerresearch.org/treatment-types/cancer-vaccines#treatments.
3. Zefferino, R., Piccoli, C., Gioia, S.D., Capitanio, N., and Conese, M. (2019). Gap Junction Intercellular Communication in the Carcinogenesis Hallmarks: Is This a Phenomenon or Epiphenomenon?. Cells, 8.
4. The influence of the pre-metastatic niche on breast cancer metastasis;Siegel;Cancer Lett.,2016
5. The distribution of secondary growths in cancer of the breast. 1889;Paget;Cancer Metastasis Rev.,1989
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献