What is a Cancer Vaccine?

A cancer vaccine is a medication that stimulates or strengthens the body’s immune system and helps it fight against cancer. Cancer vaccines contain parts of cancer cells or entire cancer cells and trigger a patient’s immune system to attack specific types of cancer cells. Vaccines against cancer may prevent the development of cancer in healthy individuals, or they may be used to treat people with existing cases of cancer.

Some doctors recommend that some of their female patients receive a vaccine to prevent cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers. This type of cancer vaccine may protect women from the human papillomavirus, or HPV. An HPV vaccine promotes the growth of antibodies that prevent HPV from generating cancer cells.

In many cases, the hepatitis B virus vaccine, or HBV vaccine, can protect people from HBV. A hepatitis B viral infection may cause liver cancer. Physicians often recommend that newborn babies receive this vaccine shortly after they are born.

Researchers are studying the use of several types of cancer vaccines to treat cancer in patients who already have the disease. Tumor cell vaccines contain cancer cells that have been treated with radiation to keep them from growing. A cancer vaccine from tumor cells may be prepared with cancer cells from the specific cancer patient who will receive the vaccine or with cancer cells from another cancer patient. Some types of cancer that are potentially treatable with tumor cell vaccines include kidney, breast and lung cancer. Leukemia, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer patients may also benefit from this type of vaccine.

Antigen cancer vaccines contain antigens, which are small portions of a cancer cell. Most antigens consist of a type of protein called peptides. Vaccines made from antigens often contain more than one type of antigen to trigger a stronger immune response in the patient’s body.

Dendritic cell vaccines are antigen vaccines that may be effective in some patients with melanoma, colorectal cancer or leukemia. Lymphomas can potentially be treated with anti-idiotype vaccines. Antigen cancer vaccines may use gene therapy to improve the effectiveness of the vaccine.

People have experienced side effects from cancer vaccines in some instances, especially at the site of a vaccine injection. Pain, swelling or redness may occur at a vaccine injection site. Some patients have noticed warm or itchy skin at the point of injection.

Flu-like symptoms may develop in patients after they have received a cancer vaccine. These symptoms might include vomiting, nausea or fever. Headaches, fatigue and muscle aches are possible with cancer vaccines.

Physicians may treat cancer patients with cancer vaccines in combination with other forms of cancer treatment. In some cases, surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy can be used together with cancer vaccine treatment for existing cancer cases. Doctors may also advise cancer patients to receive targeted therapy with special drugs that focus on cancer cells.