Therapeutic Vaccination against A Modified Minimal Survivin Epitope Induces Functional CD4 T Cells That Recognize Survivin‐Expressing Cells

Abstract

During the last decade, cancer vaccination has received a great deal of attention; however, documentation of the clinical effect remains limited. The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors as a novel therapeutic modality 1–4 could by combination increase the ability of a peptide vaccination to induce clinical responses. Survivin is an anti-apoptotic protein, first discovered in 1997. 5 It is overexpressed in a wide array of cancers, including malignant melanoma (MM), 5,6 and expression is correlated with disease progression and a poor prognosis in e.g. colon cancer and neuroblastoma. 7,8 Survivin is an excellent target for cancer vaccines due to its universal expression in cancer; in addition, down-regulation will impair the tumor cell's ability to proliferate and expand. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.