Maryam Diba, Immunologist at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, shared on LinkedIn:

“Immunogenic cell death-based cancer vaccines: promising prospect in cancer

Educational post

The mechanism of action of immunogenic cell death (ICD)-based cancer vaccines involves the induction of ICD in cancer cells, which triggers the release of danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and the production of neoantigens.

These DAMPs and neoantigens activate the dying T cell immune response and induce adaptive immunity, mimicking the process of cancer vaccination.

ICD-based cancer vaccines can serve as sensitizers for immune checkpoint blockades (ICBs) and can be developed using cell-based approaches, such as tumor cell vaccines and immune cell vaccines, or using nucleic acid vaccines.

The immunogenicity of tumor cells can be improved by inducing ICD through various treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and oncolytic viruses.

The advantages of using immunogenic cell death-based cancer vaccines over other cancer treatments include:

1. Activation of Antitumor Immunity:
   ICD-based vaccines activate antitumor immunity by inducing immunogenic cell death in cancer cells, triggering the release of DAMPs and neoantigens, which stimulate adaptive immunity against cancer cells.
2. Specificity
3. Enhanced Immunogenicity
4. Potential for Personalized Therapy
5. Comprehensive Antigen Presentation:
   These vaccines contain tumor-associated antigens and DAMPs released during cell death, providing a comprehensive antigen presentation that can enhance the immune response against cancer cells.
6. Overcoming Resistance: ICD-based vaccines can help overcome resistance to apoptotic cell death, as they induce other forms of immunogenic cell death, such as necroptosis, ferroptosis, and pyroptosis, which are also immunogenic and can stimulate anti-tumor responses.

The difference between immunogenic cell death-based cancer vaccines and other types of cancer vaccines :

Immunogenic Cell Death-Based Cancer Vaccines:

1. Mechanism:
   These vaccines work by inducing immunogenic cell death in cancer cells, triggering the release of DAMPs and neoantigens, which activate the immune response.
2. Immunogenicity:
   They specifically target cancer cells that undergo immunogenic cell death, leading to the production of neoantigens and the activation of adaptive immunity.

Other Types of Cancer Vaccines:

1. Mechanism:
   Traditional cancer vaccines may target tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) or tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) to stimulate an immune response against cancer cells.
2. Immunogenicity:
   While they can also induce an immune response against cancer cells, they may not necessarily involve the induction of immunogenic cell death or the release of DAMPs.”

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Source: Maryam Diba/LinkedIn

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