Dear Colleagues,

Modulation of the immune system is revolutionizing the fight against cancer. Although most patients have an immune response specific for their cancer, cancerous cells find ways to evade immunosurveillance. Existing immunotherapies, such as the immunocheckpoint blockers that aim to reactivate that immune response, have shown positive effects in a significant proportion of patients. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, these immunomodulatory strategies are not curative and other ways to prime and/or boost the antitumor response are urgently needed. The idea of treating cancers by using vaccines has been around for many years. In this scenario, the identification of key tumor-associated antigens for vaccine development has been intensively pursued. However, tumor-associated antigen vaccines have not offered exciting results in most of the clinical trials carried out, probably because of the immunotolerance against self-antigens, the poor immunogenicity of vaccine formulations, or the presence of a highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The incredible progress in Next Generation Sequencing techniques has made it possible to decipher complex mixtures of RNA and DNA samples and to identify the differences that make each patient’s tumor unique. This knowledge is being applied in the identification of new tumor antigens for the design and manufacture of personalized cancer vaccines. In addition to their identification as potential rejection antigens, studies on vaccine formulation, delivery systems, adjuvants and immunomodulators are needed to prepare efficient vaccines than can be administered to patients in a timely manner. Harnessing the immune system’s natural ability to find and kill cancer cells is the best way to treat cancer in the long term.

This Special Issue will highlight the current state of the art of all these relevant aspects for the design of personalized cancer vaccines and the future prospects for improving their efficacy.

Prof. Dr. Juan José Lasarte
Prof. Dr. Pablo Sarobe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• neoantigens
• tumor associated antigens
• adjuvants
• immunomodulation