Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2011 Dec;38(4):703-15, viii-ix.
doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2011.07.008. Epub 2011 Sep 28.

Cancer vaccines

Christopher V Chambers  1
Affiliations
Review

Cancer vaccines

Christopher V Chambers. Prim Care. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

The term cancer vaccines encompasses 2 different types of vaccines. Prophylactic vaccines block infection by viruses that can alter host DNA and result in cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine and the human papillomavirus vaccines are examples of prophylactic vaccines that can prevent cancer from developing. More recently, therapeutic vaccines have been developed and used as adjunctive therapy in patients who have already been diagnosed with cancer. Therapeutic vaccines stimulate the host's immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign and to attack them. Most of the therapeutic vaccines being studied are used in combination with other forms of cancer therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer