Antigen-specific Immunotherapy in Ovarian Cancer and p53 as Tumor Antigen

Renee      Vermeij; Ninke      Leffers; Cornelis      J. Melief; Toos      Daemen; Hans      W. Nijman

Abstract

Immunotherapy for ovarian cancer is one of the new treatment strategies currently investigated in epithelial ovarian cancer. This review discusses the results of different immunization strategies, identifies possible drawbacks in study design and provides potential solutions for augmentation of clinical efficacy. A potential target for cancer immunotherapy is p53, as approximately 50% of ovarian cancer cells carry p53 mutations. Therefore we review the immunological and clinical responses observed in ovarian cancer patients vaccinated with p53 targeting vaccines in particular. In most studies antigen-specific vaccine-induced immunological responses were observed. Unfortunately, no clinical responses with significant reduction of tumor-burden have been reported. Based on the currently available results we emphasize the necessity of multimodality treatment of ovarian cancer, combining classical cytoreductive surgery, (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy.

Keywords: Immunotherapy, vaccine, epithelial ovarian cancer, tumor antigen, p53, lymphocyte, immunization, clinical trial, augmentation, cytoreductive surgery.