Vaccines for lung cancer

Active immunotherapy alone may be insufficient to treat advanced disease but may be a viable option in the adjuvant setting. Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors may not satisfy the criteria for judging effective immunotherapy. Immune-related response criteria will be needed to accurately assess objective responses to immunotherapeutics. Mucin 1, TGF-b and EGF vaccines may be useful in the locally advanced and metastatic setting. Melanoma-associated antigen-A3 vaccine is currently being investigated in patients with completely resected stage IB-IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer. Predictive gene signatures may help to select patients that will likely benefit from a certain immunotherapy.