Figure 3.

Antigen classes in cancer vaccines. Tumor-associated antigens are self-antigens that can be (over)expressed in tumor tissues. Vaccine-induced TAA-specific T-cells can kill both tumor cells and healthy cells. Viral oncoproteins are uniquely expressed by malignant cells in which the viral transformation resulted in tumor growth. Neoantigens originate from DNA mutations present in the cancerous cells, the neoantigens are therefore only expressed in malignant tissue. Tumor tissues often express multiple neoantigens, offering multiple vaccine targets and multiple neoantigen-specific T-cell populations.