While locally confined prostate cancer is associated with a low five year mortality rate, advanced or metastatic disease remains a major challenge for healthcare professionals to treat and is usually terminal. As such, there is a need for the development of new, efficacious therapies for prostate cancer. Immunotherapy represents a promising approach where the host’s immune system is harnessed to mount an anti-tumour effect, and the licensing of the first prostate cancer specific immunotherapy in 2010 has opened the door for other immunotherapies to gain regulatory approval. Among these strategies DNA vaccines are an attractive option in terms of their ability to elicit a highly specific, potent and wide-sweeping immune response. Several DNA vaccines have been tested for prostate cancer and while they have demonstrated a good safety profile they have faced problems with low efficacy and immunogenicity compared to other immunotherapeutic approaches. This review focuses on the positive aspects of DNA vaccines for prostate cancer that have been assessed in preclinical and clinical trials thus far and examines the key considerations that must be employed to improve the efficacy and immunogenicity of these vaccines.

中文翻译：

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前列腺癌的 DNA 疫苗接种：关键概念和考虑因素。

虽然局部局限的前列腺癌与较低的五年死亡率相关，但晚期或转移性疾病仍然是医疗保健专业人员治疗的主要挑战，并且通常是终末期的。因此，需要开发新的、有效的前列腺癌疗法。免疫疗法代表了一种很有前景的方法，利用宿主的免疫系统来产生抗肿瘤作用，2010 年第一个前列腺癌特异性免疫疗法的许可为其他免疫疗法获得监管批准打开了大门。在这些策略中，DNA 疫苗是一种有吸引力的选择，因为它们能够引发高度特异性、有效和广泛的免疫反应。已经对几种 DNA 疫苗进行了针对前列腺癌的测试，虽然它们已经证明了良好的安全性，但与其他免疫治疗方法相比，它们面临着效率低和免疫原性低的问题。这篇综述着重于迄今为止已在临床前和临床试验中评估的前列腺癌 DNA 疫苗的积极方面，并检查了必须采用的关键考虑因素，以提高这些疫苗的功效和免疫原性。