Unmet need in lung cancer: can vaccines bridge the gap?

Despite recent advances in therapy for lung cancer, median survival remains poor. Cancer vaccines might meet the unmet need for new and effective therapies with low toxicity. A better understanding of the immunology of cancer has led to novel strategies for vaccine delivery, including the use of immunogenic adjuvant agents, genetic modification of tumor cells to produce cytokines, viral vectors, and the use of antigen-presenting cells. A number of these strategies have been studied in clinical trials for lung cancer. This review discusses the rationale for vaccine therapy in lung cancer, strategies for vaccine delivery, and clinical trials of vaccines in lung cancer.