Vaccinazione terapeutica con neoantigeni: uno strumento potenzialmente rivoluzionario nella lotta contro il cancro

Cancer, with more than 19 million new cases and 10 million deaths in 2020, is still one of the more concerning threats to human life. Its intrinsic complexity makes it difficult to find therapeutic solutions that are both effective and broadly applicable. For decades, researchers have concentrated their efforts trying to understand the role that the immune system plays in cancer and how its functions can be harnessed in the fight against this disease, resulting in the development of numerous types of immunotherapies, among which there are cancer vaccines. Both preclinical and clinical studies have highlighted their safety, feasibility and potential to become revolutionary tools to finally be able to cure the majority of cancer patients. In this context, thanks to recent technological advances, the RNA-based vaccination platform has gained more and more attention since it is particularly versatile and relatively convenient from a manufacturing point of view. Moreover, the important testing ground of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines confirmed this approach as a solid one, also providing the scientific community with a large amount of data about possible criticalities. In my thesis project, I went over some pivotal studies that have highlighted the potential of cancer vaccines, more specifically personalized therapeutic vaccination, in order to discuss about the issues that make this approach still far from delivering consistent results, warranting further research efforts.