Abstract

Nucleic acid vaccines (NAVs) have recently been tested as a cancer therapy. DNA and mRNA vaccines deliver genetic information encoding tumor antigens (TAs) to the host, which then produces immune responses against cancer cells that express the TAs. Although NAVs are easy, safe, and simple to manufacture, they have not so far been considered viable alternatives to peptide vaccines. Choosing the right TAs, insufficient immunogenicity, and the immunosuppressive nature of cancer are some challenges to this approach. In this review, we discuss approaches that been used to improve the efficiency of anticancer NAVs.