Melanoma Vaccines
Vaccines for melanoma are treatments that work to prevent the recurrence of cancer after surgery in patients with high-risk melanoma (stages IIB, IIC, III and IV). They can be used as:
- Adjuvant therapy: Secondary cancer treatment after surgery. Patients receive adjuvant therapy to help delay or prevent the recurrence of cancer.
- Immunotherapy: Is a type of treatment that activates the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Systemic drugs reach all parts of your body through the bloodstream.
What Are Melanoma Vaccines?
Vaccines for melanoma treatment can be either systemic or local therapy.
Immunotherapy vaccines contain killed, or inactivated, melanoma cells or parts of cells called antigens. As a systemic treatment, the antigens travel through your bloodstream and stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer in all parts of your body.
Unlike vaccines for flu, pneumonia and other illnesses, melanoma vaccines do not prevent melanoma. The vaccines are adjuvant cancer therapy for patients who have already had surgery to remove melanoma tumors.
Learn more about how immunotherapy and adjuvant therapy work.
Latest Treatments for Advanced Melanoma
Patients with high-risk melanoma have a variety of treatment options for adjuvant therapy. Learn more about the latest, most effective treatments:
- Approved adjuvant therapies
- Other therapies in development
Melanoma Research
The Melanoma Research Alliance is the largest, non-profit funder of melanoma research worldwide. Since 2007, we have directly funded over $131 million in innovative grants to improve prevention, detection, and treatment of melanoma. We have also leveraged an additional $415 million in outside funds for research. Learn more about our funded research.
Last updated: August, 2021