Interest for cancer vaccination started more than 30 years ago after the demonstration that both in animal models and later on in patients it is possible to generate anti-tumor immune responses. The clinical application of this knowledge, however, was disappointing. In this review we summarize results on peptides epitopes recognized by T cells that have been studied thanks to their easy synthesis and the lack of significant side effects when administered in-vivo. To improve the clinical efficacy, peptides were modified in their aminoacid sequence to augment their immunogenicity. Peptides vaccines were recently shown to induce a high frequency of immune response in patients that were accompanied by clinical efficacy. These data are discussed at the light of recent progression of immunotherapy caused by the addition of check-point antibodies thus providing a general picture of the potential therapeutic efficacy of the peptide-based vaccines and their combination with other biological agents.
Keywords: antigens; cancer; epitopes; immune responses; vaccination.