UNC scientists discover potential strategy to improve cancer vaccines

The promise of vaccines targeted against various types of cancer has raised the hopes of patients and their families. The reality, however, is that these promising treatments are difficult to develop. One of the challenges is identifying a discrete cellular target to stop cancer growth without inactivating the immune system. Scientists at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in North Carolina, USA, report a laboratory finding that has the potential to increase the effectiveness of therapeutic cancer vaccines.

The team found that the absence of the function of a protein called NLRP3 can result in a four-fold increase in a tumor's response to a therapeutic cancer vaccine. If this finding proves consistent, it may be a key to making cancer vaccines a realistic treatment option. Their findings were published in the December 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

Jonathan Serody, a study author, explains: "This finding suggests an unexpected role for NLRP3 in vaccine development and gives us a potentially pharmacologic target to increase vaccine efficacy."