title: Vaccines in non-small cell lung cancer: rationale, combination strategies and update on clinical trials.
abstract: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the leading cause of cancer related mortality worldwide and despite some advances in therapy the overall prognosis remains disappointing. New therapeutic approaches like vaccination have been proposed and several clinical trials are ongoing. Many tumor antigens have been identified so far and specific tumor vaccines targeting these antigens have been developed. Even if the ideal setting for vaccine therapy might be the adjuvant one, vaccines seem to be potentially beneficial also in advanced disease and combination therapy could be a promising treatment option. In the advanced setting anti-MUC-1 vaccine (belagenpumatucel) and anti-TGF-β(2) vaccine (BPL-25) have entered in phase III trials as maintenance therapy after first line chemotherapy. In the adjuvant setting the most relevant and promising vaccines are directed against MAGE-A3 and PRAME, respectively. We will review the key points for effective active immunotherapies and combination therapies, giving an update on the most promising vaccines developed in NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Medical Oncology Unit of Respiratory Tract and Sarcomas, New Drugs Development Division, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. Tommaso.depas@ieo.it
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Pas
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rescigno
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catania
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Toffalorio
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spitaleri
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delmonte
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barberis
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spaggiari
authors.forename: Piergiorgio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solli
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Braud
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines