Primary immunoprevention of adult onset cancers by vaccinating against retired tissue-specific self-proteins

Despite the enormous success of childhood prophylactic vaccination against diseases caused by pathogens, there is currently no similar preventive vaccine program against diseases confronted with age like breast cancer and ovarian cancer. With the exception of the annual influenza vaccine, current recommendations for adult vaccination are for either primary vaccines not received during childhood or for booster vaccinations to maintain the immunity against pathogens already induced during childhood. Here we describe a strategy to provide prophylactic pre-emptive immunity against the development of adult onset cancers not associated with any definitive etiopathogenic agent. We propose that safe and effective pre-emptive immunity may be induced in cancer-free subjects by vaccination against immunodominant tissue-specific self-proteins that are ‘retired’ from expression in normal tissues as part of the normal aging process but are expressed in tumors that emerge with age. Primary immunoprevention of adult onset cancers like breast cancer and ovarian cancer represents a great challenge and an even greater unmet need for our current healthcare.