The Importance of the Age Factor in Cancer Vaccination at Older Age

Overview

Journal Cancer Immunol Immunother

Specialties Allergy & Immunology
Oncology
Pharmacology

Date 2009 Mar 5

PMID 19259666

Citations 6

Authors

Claudia Gravekamp

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cancer is an age-related disease, and with the graying of the society there is an increasing need to optimize cancer management and therapy to elderly patients. Vaccine therapy for cancer is less toxic than chemotherapy or radiation and could be, therefore, especially effective in older, more frail cancer patients. However, it has been shown that older individuals do not respond to vaccine therapy as well as younger adults. This has been attributed to T cell unresponsiveness, a phenomenon also observed in cancer patients per se. Therefore, research is needed to establish whether age-specific tumor-immunological variables permit optimal use of cancer vaccines and therapy in the elderly. This review summarizes the current knowledge of T cell unresponsiveness in cancer patients and elderly, and the results of cancer vaccination in preclinical models at young and old age. Finally, new directions that may lead to effective cancer vaccination at older age will be proposed.

Citing Articles

Aging and cancer vaccines.

Gravekamp C, Chandra D Crit Rev Oncog. 2014; 18(6):585-95.

PMID: 24579737 PMC: 4264586. DOI: 10.1615/critrevoncog.2013010588.

Is cancer vaccination feasible at older age?.

Gravekamp C, Jahangir A Exp Gerontol. 2014; 54:138-44.

PMID: 24509231 PMC: 4053252. DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2014.01.025.

T cell replicative senescence in human aging.

Chou J, Effros R Curr Pharm Des. 2012; 19(9):1680-98.

PMID: 23061726 PMC: 3749774. DOI: 10.2174/138161213805219711.

Aging, cancer, and cancer vaccines.

Mazzola P, Radhi S, Mirandola L, Annoni G, Jenkins M, Cobos E Immun Ageing. 2012; 9(1):4.

PMID: 22510392 PMC: 3353870. DOI: 10.1186/1742-4933-9-4.

Interdisciplinary critique of sipuleucel-T as immunotherapy in castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Huber M, Haynes L, Parker C, Iversen P J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012; 104(4):273-9.

PMID: 22232132 PMC: 3283534. DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr514.

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