Department of Tumor Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Front Immunol. 2021 Jul 5;12:682492. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.682492. eCollection 2021.
Telomerase-based therapeutic cancer vaccines (TCVs) have been under clinical investigation for the past two decades. Despite past failures, TCVs have gained renewed enthusiasm for their potential to improve the efficacy of checkpoint inhibition. Telomerase stands as an attractive target for TCVs due to its almost universal presence in cancer and its essential function promoting tumor growth. Herein, we review tumor telomerase biology that may affect the efficacy of therapeutic vaccination and provide insights on optimal vaccine design and treatment combinations. Tumor types possessing mechanisms of increased telomerase expression combined with an immune permissive tumor microenvironment are expected to increase the therapeutic potential of telomerase-targeting cancer vaccines. Regardless, rational treatment combinations, such as checkpoint inhibitors, are likely necessary to bring out the true clinical potential of TCVs.
基于端粒酶的治疗性癌症疫苗（TCV）在过去的二十年中一直在进行临床研究。尽管过去失败了，但 TCV 因其有可能提高检查点抑制的疗效而重新受到关注。端粒酶因其在癌症中的普遍存在及其促进肿瘤生长的基本功能而成为 TCV 的一个有吸引力的靶标。在此，我们回顾了可能影响治疗性疫苗疗效的肿瘤端粒酶生物学，并就最佳疫苗设计和治疗组合提供了见解。预计具有增加端粒酶表达机制的肿瘤类型，加上免疫允许的肿瘤微环境，将增加端粒酶靶向癌症疫苗的治疗潜力。无论如何，合理的治疗组合，如检查点抑制剂，可能是发挥 TCV 真正临床潜力所必需的。
