During the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential – and real-world-impact – of mRNA-based vaccines attracted enormous public attention. November 9^th 2020 marked a historic event, when BioNTech and Pfizer announced the success of Tozinameran (BNT162b2), the first ever mRNA vaccine, in a pivotal phase-III trial. Soon, it would become commonly known as the “Pfizer vaccine” or “BioNTech vaccine”.

Due to their crucial role in combating the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, mRNA vaccines are currently receiving a lot of attention and, so far, have been a great success for the companies developing them. Cancer research is another major application for mRNA vaccine technology. Immuno-oncology develops ways of directing the immune system to fight against cancer cells, thus expanding the possibilities of modern oncology.

Recently mRNA vaccines have received particular attention based on their effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, mRNA vaccines have achieved some promising clinical responses in treating a variety of solid tumours. However, other vaccine technologies have been under investigation for some time in immuno-oncology, too, including cell-based vaccines, dendritic cell-based vaccines, peptide vaccines, viral particle derived vaccines and DNA vaccines.