Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of vaccines with defined and undefined antigens

Undefined Antigens

1. Availability of several potential tumor rejection antigens.

1. Difficulty in correlating clinical response and overall immune response based on select known antigens.

2. Unrestricted HLA patient population.

2. Largely dependent on clinical endpoint.

Defined Antigens

1. Temporal monitoring of specific immune response.

1. Limited number of known tumor antigens for use (single or cocktail).

2. Possibility of correlation of immune response with antigen expression on tumors.

2. Relatively limited targeting of patient population due to HLA restriction.