Applying principles of vaccine development to oncomicrobial vaccines Open Access

Considerable global cancer burden is attributable to infectious agents, or oncomicrobes, which provides an opportunity to limit cancer by vaccination. HBV and HPV vaccines exemplify this strategy, by significantly reducing liver and cervical cancer cases, respectively, and highlight the potential of extending this approach to other oncomicrobe targets. However, to date, effective vaccines against other well-established oncomicrobes have not been developed, and novel oncomicrobes continue to emerge. In this review we provide an overview of vaccination and vaccine design with an emphasis on the key factors (vaccine type, antigen selection, administration route, vaccination timing) to consider when developing oncomicrobial vaccines, and we summarize the current state and future directions of vaccination for several established and emerging oncomicrobes.