Therapeutic Vaccine

Therapeutic Vaccine designates vaccines designed to treat existing diseases rather than prevent infection, stimulating immune responses against established targets such as cancer cells, chronic viral infections, or pathological proteins. Unlike prophylactic vaccines administered to healthy individuals to prevent disease, therapeutic vaccines aim to enhance immune recognition and clearance of disease-associated antigens, often requiring repeated dosing and combination strategies.

The pharmaceutical industry develops therapeutic vaccines primarily in oncology and chronic infectious diseases, targeting tumour antigens, viral proteins, or immune regulatory pathways. Cancer therapeutic vaccines attempt to activate cytotoxic T-cell responses against tumour-associated antigens, with approaches including peptide vaccines, dendritic cell vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and mRNA platforms. Clinical development faces challenges including antigen heterogeneity, immune evasion mechanisms, and tumour microenvironment suppression limiting immune activity. Biomarker strategies identify patients most likely to respond based on antigen expression, immune infiltration, or HLA types. Combination regimens with checkpoint inhibitors, cytokines, or targeted therapies aim to improve vaccine efficacy by enhancing immune activation and reducing suppression. As immunotherapy advances and platform technologies mature, therapeutic vaccines continue representing promising strategies for durable disease control through immune system engagement.