Vaccine-based therapeutic interventions in lung cancer management: A recent perspective

The incidence of lung cancer continues to grow globally, contributing to an ever-increasing load on healthcare systems. Emerging evidence has indicated lowered efficacy of conventional treatment strategies, such as chemotherapy, surgical interventions and radiotherapy, prompting the need for exploring alternative interventions. A growing focus on immunotherapy and the development of personalized medicine has paved the way for vaccine-based delivery in lung cancer. With various prominent targets such as CD8⁺T cells and PD-L1, immune-targeted, anti-cancer vaccines have been evaluated in both, pre-clinical and clinical settings, to improve therapeutic outcomes. However, there are a number of challenges that must be addressed, including the scalability of such delivery systems, heterogeneity of lung cancers, and long-term safety as well as efficacy. In addition to this, natural compounds, in combination with immunotherapy, have gained considerable research interest in recent times. This makes it necessary to explore their role in synergism with immune-targeted agents. The authors of this review aim to offer an overview of recent advances in our understanding of lung cancer pathogenesis, detection and management strategies, and the emergence of immunotherapy with a special focus on vaccine delivery. This finding is supported with evidence from testing in non-human and human models, showcasing promising results. Prospects for phytotherapy have also been discussed, in order to combat some pitfalls and limitations. Finally, the future perspectives of vaccine usage in lung cancer management have also been discussed, to offer a holistic perspective to readers, and to prompt further research in the domain.