Many cancer patients are treated in a combination therapy regimen. This means two or more types of treatment are employed. The three most common modalities are surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Other treatment modalities are hormone therapy and immunotherapy. If cancer vaccines prove viable, there is a good chance they will find use in combination therapy programs.

Early studies have suggested that patients treated with a cancer vaccine before other therapies may have better chances. This is still mostly conjectural, and it will be years before we have enough clinical experience to establish regimen guidelines.

It appears that the introduction of a vaccine to the body starts an immune response and activation of the immune system. Radiotherapy and some chemotherapy can increase cancer cells’ susceptibility to T-cells, so the body is better able to stop tumor growth.

The same vaccination strategies used for preventative vaccinations against infectious diseases like influenza and the measles won’t necessarily be appropriate for therapeutic cancer vaccination. Cancer usually takes a toll on a person’s immune system, so a vaccine won’t produce the same kind of response. Further, the antigens produced by cancer differ from the antigens produced by other infectious diseases in that they are self-antigens characteristic of autoimmune diseases. The immune system doesn’t recognize these as foreign threats and T-cells are not activated. Self-antigens are part of the reason it is so hard to treat lupus and AIDS. For this reason, scientists may have to develop methods to specifically stimulate the immune system. Claims of stimulation of the immune system has been a staple of quack remedies, but serious scientists are looking into real methods to aid in vaccine-assisted immunotherapy for cancer. Proposed methods include stimulation of specific T-cells and strategies to block immune regulation.