Efficacy of Whole Cancer Stem Cell-Based Vaccines: A Systematic Review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies


 
 
 Despite the conventional cancer therapeutic, cancer treatment remains a medical challenge due to neoplasm metastasis and cancer recurrence, therefore, new approaches promoting therapeutic strategies are highly desirable. As a new therapy, the use of whole neoplastic stem cells or cancer stem cell (CSC)-based vaccines is one strategy to overcome these obstacles. We investigated the effects of whole CSC-based vaccines on the solid tumor development, metastasis, and survival rate.
 
 
 
 Primary electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science), and a major clinical registry were searched. Interventional studies of whole CSC-based vaccines in rodent cancer models (38 studies), and human cancer patients (11 studies) were included; the vaccine preparation methodologies, effects, and overall outcomes were evaluated.
 
 
 
 Preclinical studies were divided into four groups, CSC-lysates/ inactivated-CSC-based vaccines, CSC-lysate-loaded dendritic cell (CSC-DC) vaccines, cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) vaccines generated with CSC-DC (CSC-DC-CTL), and combinatorial treatments carried out in the prophylactic and therapeutic experimental models. The majority of preclinical studies reported a promising effect on tumor growth, survival rate, and metastasis. Moreover, whole CSC-based vaccines induced several antitumor immune responses. A small number of clinical investigations suggested that the whole CSC-based vaccine treatment is beneficial, however further research is required.
 
 
 
 This comprehensive review provides an overview of the available methods for assessing the efficacy of whole CSC-based vaccines on tumor development, metastasis, and survival rate. In addition, it presents a set of recommendations for designing high-quality clinical studies that may allow to determine the efficacy of whole CSC-based-vaccines in cancer therapy.
