Individualized immunotherapy for malignant tumors using peptide vaccines-maybe it does work after all?

The physician and scientist Paul Ehrlich put forward the thesis that the immune system not only fights infections but can also fight cancer. The possible positive effects of a simultaneous infection on the course of cancer were reported in ancient Egypt around 2600 BC. However, it was not until the 1960s that it became apparent that the immune system could specifically fight cancer cells, and it was not until the 1990s that researchers slowly clarified how this happens.Against this background, the efforts over the last 30 years to develop therapeutic vaccines against cancers are briefly summarized, and their lack of success to date is highlighted. In addition, potentially promising future developments in this context are discussed. The available scientific literature as well as our own results are taken into account.Central questions arise, such as the following: How do cancer cells differ from normal cells? How can the immune system recognize these differences? What are tumor-specific antigens? Why do they need to be selected and applied in an individualized fashion? How can an efficient immune response be induced? Which pharmaceutical formulations, adjuvants, and vaccination routes are effective?Finally, we explain why it may still be worth pursuing peptide vaccination, which has so far been completely unsuccessful (when measured in terms of already approved therapeutics)

Wound Fluid in Diabetic Foot Ulceration: More Than Just an Undefined Soup?

Valid and reproducible sampling techniques as well as processing protocols are required for the assessment of biomarkers and mediators contained in wound exudate. Moreover, the ideal technique should be easy to use even in daily clinical routine. This is challenging since wound fluid represents an inhomogeneous mixture of different exogenous and endogenous sources. Analyzing wound fluid, however, may facilitate clinical decision making. Many techniques for obtaining wound fluid have been described. There is very little validation data, and the array of different techniques appears confusing. Structuring and new standards are needed to avoid wound fluid sampling yielding an “undefined soup.” A lot of wound fluid parameters have been analyzed, although none of them have made its way into clinical practice. Nevertheless, basic principles of wound healing have been established from wound fluid analysis. With adequate techniques suitable for daily practice, basic research might foster our clinical understanding of wound healing with implications for new therapies. So far, research has mainly concentrated on analyzing available sample material with respect to either a wide variety of analytes or comparing acute with chronic wound exudate. Clinical endpoints such as healing or wound infection as well as longitudinal data may indeed be more valuable for clinical practice, enabling the discovery of meaningful biomarkers using a suitable technique. </jats:p