A therapeutic vaccine is a

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

which is administered after a

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

has already occurred. A therapeutic vaccine works by activating the immune system of a patient to fight an infection. A therapeutic vaccine differs from a

prophylactic Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

vaccine in that prophylactic vaccines are administered to individuals as a precautionary measure to avoid the infection or disease while therapeutic vaccines are administered after the individual is already affected by the disease or infection. A therapeutic vaccine fights an existing infection in the body rather than immunizing the body for protection against future diseases and infections. Therapeutic vaccines are mostly used against

viral infections A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. Structural Characteristics Basic structural characteristics, ...

. Patients affected with chronic viral infections are administered with therapeutic vaccines, as their

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

is not able to produce enough efficient antibodies.

Provenge Sipuleucel-T, sold under the brand name Provenge, developed by Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, LLC, is a cell-based cancer immunotherapy for prostate cancer (CaP). It is an autologous cellular immunotherapy. Medical uses Sipuleucel-T is indicated ...

, developed by

Dendreon Dendreon is a biotechnology company. Its lead product, Provenge (known generically as sipuleucel-T), is an immunotherapy for prostate cancer. It consists of a mixture of the patient's own blood cells (autologous, with dendritic cells thought to be ...

, was the first therapeutic vaccine approved by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

in 2010. This therapeutic vaccine helped in treating

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

where patients' own

white blood cells White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mult ...

(WBCs) were taken and treated with drug (vaccine) to train them to differentiate and fight

cancer cell Cancer cells are cells that divide continually, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood with abnormal cells. Cell division is a normal process used by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form two daughter cells, and these d ...

Functionality

Therapeutic vaccines are a new form of vaccines that are mostly being used for viral infections and various types of cancers. A therapeutic vaccine helps an immune system to recognise a foreign agent such as cancerous cells or a virus. The specific type of therapeutic vaccines include

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

vaccines. In case of antigen vaccines, the body is introduced to a foreign agent to activate the immune system so that it recognizes the agent when later encountered.

Types

There are two types of therapeutic vaccines:

Autologous vaccines

''Autologous'' means 'derived from oneself' – an autologous vaccine is a personalized vaccine which is made from an individual's own cells which could be either cancer cells or immune system cells.

Allogeneic vaccines

''Allo'' means 'other'. Allogeneic vaccines are primarily cancer vaccines which are made from a different individual's cancer cells which are grown in a lab.

How therapeutic vaccines differ from prophylactic vaccines

The concept of therapeutic vaccines is different. When a person hears the word vaccine, the thought of prevention against a certain disease comes to mind. However, therapeutic vaccines are a method of treatment. Like any other vaccine, the immune system is regulated against a specific type of target. The main goal is to enhance the immune system activity. This type of vaccine can be employed for the treatment of various type of diseases and viral infections. Efforts are being made to develop vaccines against various fatal diseases such as HIV, cancer, dengue fever, cholera, Diphtheria, etc.

Therapeutic vaccines against HIV

HIV has no vaccine up until now, but therapeutic vaccines could be the breakthrough for HIV. Such vaccines would enhance affected patients immune systems to fight the disease. Many researchers are trying to develop and test therapeutic HIV vaccines in order to slow the HIV progression to AIDS. People affected with HIV normally have HIV at undetectable level, which is detected by use of

antiretroviral therapy The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple Antiviral drug, antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV/AIDS, HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life- ...

(ART). If therapeutic vaccines for HIV work out, many lives will be saved. Many clinical trials are being conducted for HIV therapeutic vaccines, such as those conducted by AIDSinfo, summaries for their trials are available at their website.

Therapeutic vaccine against cancer

Cancer is the major cause of deaths in the recent era. Cancer types and stages have enhanced with time and so has efforts to treat cancer. Currently, there are about 369 cancer vaccine studies ongoing all around the world. There are three cancer therapeutic vaccines which are approved by USA Food and Drug Administration, as following; Provenge is Sipuleucel-T, a dendritic cell based vaccine for prostate cancer. Bacillus Calmettle-Guerin (TheraCys) is a live attenuated vaccine which makes use of ''Mycobacterium bovis'' strain for bladder invasive cancer. Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC or Imlygic) is a vaccine for advanced oncolytic melanoma

References

{{reflist Cancer vaccines