Co-stimulatory tumor necrosis factor ligands as adjuvants for the development of subunit-based anticancer vaccines

Tumor-associated antigen (TAA) subunit-based vaccines constitute promising tools for the anticancer immunotherapy. Given the weak antigenic nature of most TAAs, however, the efficacy of TAA-based vaccines requires adjuvants exerting potent immunostimulatory functions. Co-stimulatory members of the tumor necrosis factor ligand (TNFL) family may be used in this sense due to their pleiotropic and robust effects on cells of innate, adaptive and regulatory immune responses.