03.08.2026

Personalized cancer vaccines: toward a new generation of combination treatments

T. Snäkä, A. Friedlaender, M. Graciotti, M. Hernandez, L. Rossier, V. Kirchner, L. Kandalaft, «Personalized cancer vaccines and their integration with standard of care modalities,» Cancer Treat. Rev., vol. 143, p. 103095, Feb. 2026, doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2026.103095.

Therapeutic cancer vaccines are receiving renewed interest thanks to advances in genomics, artificial intelligence, and delivery technologies. However, despite this potential, they are still not widely used in clinical practice. The review published by Tiia Snäkä, et al. highlights a central idea: vaccines should not be seen as standalone treatments, but as key elements to be integrated into existing approaches.

The authors show that combining vaccines with standard treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or immunotherapy, can produce synergistic effects. Preclinical studies provide strong mechanistic evidence that vaccines can increase tumor immunogenicity and enhance antigen presentation, making tumors more visible to the immune system.

Building on this foundation, emerging clinical data further support the idea that vaccines can strengthen and prolong anti-tumor immune responses. Together, these findings suggest that combining vaccines with existing treatment modalities can transform «invisible» tumors into recognizable targets, opening the door to more durable therapeutic responses.

The review also explores the stages of disease where these strategies could be most effective, particularly after initial treatment when tumor burden is low. It emphasizes that integrating personalized cancer vaccines should be tailored to the specific tumor type, disease stage, and treatment context (Figure). While many patients respond well to standard treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy, relapse remains common, highlighting an important window where vaccines could be introduced to strengthen immune control and prevent disease recurrence. Although challenges remain, especially in terms of cost, logistics, and patient selection, the future of cancer vaccines is encouraging, with a strong rationale for advancing these approaches into first-line treatment settings. In the long term, integrating personalized vaccines into standard of care pathways could transform cancer treatment by supporting a more targeted and durable form of precision medicine.

Integrating cancer vaccines into the patient journey and across the disease continuum. The effects of cancer vaccines vary along the patient journey and depend on both treatment context and immune status. In settings where immunity is intact, vaccines can help prime anti-tumor responses, while in more advanced disease they may help restore immune responsiveness when combined with other therapies. Following treatment, they can support the development of long-term immune memory and help reduce the risk of relapse.

Clinical Trial Unit

Tiia Snäkä

tsnaekae@genolier.net

Michele Graciotti

Director of clinical development

MGraciotti@genolier.net

Miriam Hernandez Bailon

mhernandez@genolier.net

Laetitia Rossier

Director of clinical trial unit

LRossier@genolier.net

Lana Kandalaft

Chief of Clinical and Translational Research

LKandalaft@swissmedical.net

Participating doctors

Clinique Générale-Beaulieu

PD Dr med Alex Friedlaender

Specialisation
Oncology

Clinique de Genolier

Dr. med. Volker Kirchner

Specialisation
Oncology, Hematology, General Internal Medicine, Onco-haematology View more

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