7.3　Immune Adjuvant

An immune adjuvant is a substance that accelerates or enhances antigen-specific immune responses by activating innate immunity when co-administered with an antigen given for a vaccination.The clinical use of immune adjuvants in cancer immunotherapy has been expected to overcome the immunosuppressive state in the tumor microenvironment, and to effectively induce or enhance pre-existing host anti-tumor immune responses to eradicate cancer cells [11].(https://www.daowen.com)

Adjuvants are roughly divided into inflammatory adjuvants and DC-priming adjuvants.So far,no DC-priming adjuvant has been approved for use in humans, leaving only inflammation-inducing adjuvants, such as aluminum salt (alum) and oil, approved as supplements for vaccines.Most studies of cancer vaccines containing inflammatory adjuvants have failed to reach the criteria of efficacy and safety for therapeutic aims [12].