Vaccination therapy in prostate cancer

Abstract

Radical prostatectomy and radiation therapy provide excellent localized prostate cancer (PC) control. Although the majority of prostate carcinoma is nowadays diagnosed at early stages with favourable risk features, in patients up to 30-40% it recurs within 10 years. Furthermore, the lack of effective therapies, once prostate carcinoma becomes refractory to androgen deprivation, mandates the development of alternative therapeutic options. There is a growing interest in harnessing the potency and specificity of anti-tumour immunity through the generation of fully competent dendritic cells and tumour reactive effector lymphocytes. Several strategies to treat or prevent the development of metastatic PC have been explored in clinical trials and are summarized in this review, considering also the feasibility and safety of these approaches. In some cases clinical responses were achieved showing that vaccine-primed T cells induced anti-tumour activity in vivo. The present findings and perspectives of the immunologic interventions in PC patients will be discussed. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.