Telomerase based anticancer immunotherapy and vaccines approaches

Telomerase is a Reverse Transcriptase that maintains the telomere length. It is absent in most somatic cells but is found in stem cells, germ cells and around 90% of cancers. It plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining cancer cells. Telomerase, a HLA class-I antigen, is able to stimulate cell mediated immune response by inducing cytotoxic T-cells. This property of telomerase is being exploited in targeting cancers by host's own immune responses; stimulated by various Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) derived vaccines. Many approaches and studies including clinical trials have shown effective anticancer responses of these vaccines, without toxicity to non cancer cells. In this article we have compiled different hTERT based anticancer immunotherapy approaches, vaccines and their performances. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.