Vaccine-based clinical trials in ovarian cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer vaccines are one of the new treatment strategies under investigation in epithelial ovarian cancer. This article discusses the results of different immunization strategies, points out potential pitfalls in study designs and provides possible solutions for augmentation of clinical efficacy. Most ovarian cancer vaccines have not yet evolved beyond Phase I/II studies, which do not primarily evaluate clinical efficacy. Although different approaches of antigen-specific immunization generally result in antigen-specific immune responses, clinical benefit is not consistently observed. Based on the currently available results, we emphasize the necessity of multimodal treatment of ovarian cancer, combining classical cytoreductive surgery, (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy.

Keywords::

• antibody
• immunization
• immunotherapy
• lymphocyte
• ovarian cancer
• vaccine

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Kees JM Melief is a part-time employee of ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., Bilthoven, The Netherlands. This company is the license holder of the p53-SLP^® vaccine. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.