vaccinebased

Vaccine-based refers to strategies and products that rely on vaccination to induce protective or therapeutic immune responses. The term covers vaccines used to prevent infectious diseases and therapeutic vaccines designed to treat existing conditions, including cancer vaccines and vaccines aimed at persistent infections.

Vaccines work by presenting antigens to the immune system, often with adjuvants, to stimulate antibodies and T cells and establish immunological memory. Depending on the target, vaccines may prevent infection or modulate disease by reducing pathogen burden or tumor growth.

Prophylactic vaccines aim to prevent disease, examples include vaccines for HPV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. Therapeutic vaccines seek to treat disease by boosting immune responses against disease-associated antigens; approved products include sipuleucel-T for prostate cancer, with many candidates in clinical trials.

Vaccine platforms include traditional inactivated and live-attenuated vaccines, as well as protein subunit, peptide, viral vector, and nucleic acid vaccines (RNA and DNA). A prominent development in recent years is messenger RNA vaccines, used for infectious diseases and explored in oncology.

Regulatory oversight focuses on safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality; post-market surveillance monitors rare adverse events. Limitations include variable effectiveness for some pathogens, the need for cold-chain storage, and public hesitancy, which can affect uptake and herd immunity.

As research advances, vaccine-based approaches continue to expand into cancer therapy, personalized vaccines, and rapid response platforms for emerging pathogens, aiming to provide durable protection with favorable safety profiles.