Off-the-shelf cancer vaccines
Vaccines against mutations or proteins shared by many patients, so they can be made in advance.
KRAS-directed vaccines (ELI-002 7P, Elicio; mRNA-5671), shared neoantigen vaccines (Gritstone SLATE, discontinued), HER2 peptide vaccines, and tumour-lysate approaches. Sipuleucel-T (2010) remains the only approved therapeutic cancer vaccine in the US; BCG for bladder cancer is the oldest immunotherapy.
How it works
A pre-manufactured antigen (peptide, mRNA, viral vector, dendritic cell) is given with an adjuvant.
- Scalable, immediate
- Tolerance to self-antigens; weak historical results
A personalised vaccine made from the patient's own immune cells and tumour. Its 20-year-old phase 3 trial reported longer survival, but the way the result was analysed has divided the field.
A ready-made vaccine against the seven commonest KRAS mutations, given after pancreatic cancer surgery. Its phase 2 missed the main goal in 2026 but showed signs of activity.
A vaccine against a glioblastoma-specific mutant protein that looked promising for years and then failed its phase 3 trial in 2016. It is a landmark failure.
Sipuleucel-T was the first therapeutic cancer vaccine approved (2010): it lengthened survival in metastatic prostate cancer by about four months without shrinking tumours or lowering PSA.
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"shared antigen cancer vaccine" OR ABSTRACT:"shared antigen cancer vaccine" OR TITLE:"KRAS vaccine" OR ABSTRACT:"KRAS vaccine" OR TITLE:"off-the-shelf cancer vaccine" OR ABSTRACT:"off-the-shelf cancer vaccine"). Results are unfiltered search hits about Off-the-shelf cancer vaccines, not a curated reading list.