Prospects for vaccination in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality. S urgical and medical management of the disease has improved but there is lit tle effect upon overall survival. Novel therapies such as immunotherapy off er the potential of treating the disease by stimulating the immune system t o mount a response to the cancer systemically. This review highlights the p itfalls and progress in the understanding of the role of the immune system in malignancy and also explains the theory behind prostate cancer vaccine t rials.