Vaccines as treatment strategies for relapsed prostate cancer: approaches for induction of immunity.

Overview

Prostate cancer is a important tumor in which to evaluate vaccine strategies. It is associated with two well-characterized serum biomarkers, prostate specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase, which enables the investigator to monitor the progress of the disease. There are well-studied but less well-known glycoprotein and glycolipid antigens on the surface of prostate cancer cells that may function as targets for immune recognition and attack. Conventional treatments such as chemical castration are often poorly tolerated. When initiation of hormonal therapy is controversial, alternative therapies with minimal side effects are a desirable approach. Vaccines represent a means by which the immune system can be stimulated in order to affect an antitumor response by means of recruiting a variety of different effector arms of the immune system. The varying approaches toward vaccine construction as treatment strategies for relapsed prostate cancer are described.