About the Center for Cancer Vaccines
Welcome to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Vaccines.
Cancer vaccines have seen a renewed interest along with the revolution that immunotherapy has brought to cancer care. Vaccines present a powerful opportunity to reset the T cell state in a tumor and to enhance care for cancer patients. This is due to the safety of vaccines and their unique ability to enhance the number and quality of tumor-specific T cells and steer them to the tumor.
Our interdisciplinary team of physicians, scientists, and staff has expertise in clinical trial design, cancer immunology, and cutting-edge analytical technologies. Our Center is dedicated to the development, clinical testing, and analysis of vaccines that can be used to treat patients at all stages of disease. By intercepting cancer early in its development, we have an opportunity to dramatically improve outcomes. With a bench to bedside and back model, we are aptly positioned to make iterative improvements based on deep analysis.
Pioneering Tailored Solutions
Our particular expertise lies in developing personal neoantigen cancer vaccines tailored specifically to each patient's individual cancer – an area which we pioneered. No two cancers are the same. At the Center for Cancer Vaccines, we developed NeoVax, a patient-tailored vaccine based on the genetic mutations carried by each individual patient. NeoVax can empower the immune system of each patient to specifically recognize and target their tumor.
Our next-generation vaccine program is also in development. With NextVax, we aim to further enhance personal neoantigen cancer vaccine therapies that are more powerful as well as easier and less costly to produce. This vaccine format also has the potential to be applied to other important cancer vaccines.
To learn more about our research, visit Clinical Trials and Discovery Science.