Journal article

Successes, failures and new perspectives of idiotypic vaccination for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas

Elena Muraro, Debora Martorelli, Riccardo Dolcetti

HUMAN VACCINES & IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS | TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC | Published : 2013

Abstract

The idiotype of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas has been intensively investigated for its proven immunogenicity as a promising cancer vaccine. Indeed, available data clearly indicate that these vaccines are able to induce tumor-specific immune responses and molecular remissions in patients with follicular lymphoma. However, only one of the three phase III trials performed so far demonstrated a prolonged disease-free survival in vaccinated patients. The observed failures have been mainly ascribed to defects in the study design and not to the limited efficacy of idiotype vaccines per se. Therefore, innovative and optimized idiotype-based vaccine formulations are being developed in order to overco..

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