# In situ vaccination

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/in-situ-vaccination/  
OnCo record `in-situ-vaccination` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Treating one tumour so aggressively that the immune system learns to attack every other one, using the tumour itself as the vaccine.

## Summary

Rather than manufacturing a vaccine, an injected adjuvant, virus, cytokine or ablative therapy turns a single lesion into an antigen source. Intratumoural TLR9 agonists with low-dose radiotherapy produced systemic responses in lymphoma, and oncolytic viruses, cryoablation, histotripsy and IL-12 electroporation all pursue the same idea. Systemic responses are real but modest and inconsistent, and the field lacks a way to predict who will respond.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: phase-2
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: frontier; promising
- Principle: Local immunogenic cell death plus an adjuvant recruits antigen-presenting cells at the tumour, priming T cells against the patient's own full antigen repertoire.
- Strengths: No manufacturing or antigen prediction needed; Covers the whole private antigen repertoire; Cheap and fast
- Limitations: Abscopal responses are inconsistent; Needs an injectable lesion; No validated predictive biomarker

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov: in situ vaccination cancer: https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?term=in%20situ%20vaccination%20cancer

## Connected records

- cancers: [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/)
- fronts: [Immunotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/immunotherapy/)
- technologies: [Cytokines & engineered cytokines](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytokine-therapy/), [Focused ultrasound & histotripsy](https://onco.cc/technologies/hifu-histotripsy/), [Oncolytic viruses](https://onco.cc/technologies/oncolytic-virus/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/), [STING & innate immune agonists](https://onco.cc/technologies/sting-agonist/), [Thermal ablation (RFA, microwave, cryo)](https://onco.cc/technologies/thermal-ablation/)
- terms: [Abscopal effect](https://onco.cc/terms/abscopal-effect/), [Immunogenic cell death](https://onco.cc/terms/immunogenic-cell-death/)
- roadmaps: [Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/cure-paths/), [Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/frontier-2035/)
- pathways: [Cold tumours: immune deserts and exclusion](https://onco.cc/pathways/immune-desert-exclusion/)
- companies: [Idera Pharmaceuticals](https://onco.cc/companies/idera-pharmaceuticals/)

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