A therapeutic vaccine works by activating the immune system of a patient to fight an infection.
Patients affected with chronic viral infections are administered with therapeutic vaccines, as their immune system is not able to produce enough efficient antibodies.
This therapeutic vaccine helped in treating prostate cancer where patients' own white blood cells (WBCs) were taken and treated with drug (vaccine) to train them to differentiate and fight cancer cells.
A therapeutic vaccine helps an immune system to recognise a foreign agent such as cancerous cells or a virus.
[7][8] Efforts are being made to develop vaccines against various fatal diseases such as HIV, cancer, dengue fever, cholera, Diphtheria, etc.
[12] Bacillus Calmettle-Guerin (TheraCys) is a live attenuated vaccine which makes use of Mycobacterium bovis strain for bladder invasive cancer.