Future of cancer vaccines.

Extensive research in the area of active-specific immunotherapy has led to the approval of the first therapeutic cancer vaccine sipuleucel-T (Provenge™) in 2010. Even though a major milestone for the field of cancer immunotherapy, many obstacles towards successful integration of vaccination strategies into the oncologists' armamentarium remain. This chapter discusses possible future perspectives for cancer vaccines as a treatment modality in oncology with special focus on biomarkers (response prediction and patient selection), requirements for clinical trial design, and combination therapies (standard of care and new molecular entities).Extensive research in the area of active-specific immunotherapy has led to the approval of the first therapeutic cancer vaccine sipuleucel-T (Provenge™) in 2010. Even though a major milestone for the field of cancer immunotherapy, many obstacles towards successful integration of vaccination strategies into the oncologists' armamentarium remain. This chapter discusses possible future perspectives for cancer vaccines as a treatment modality in oncology with special focus on biomarkers (response prediction and patient selection), requirements for clinical trial design, and combination therapies (standard of care and new molecular entities).