Definition

A cancer vaccine consisting of ALVAC, a highly attenuated poxvirus strain derived from the canarypox virus, encoding for the tumor associated antigen (TAA) carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), with potential antineoplastic activity. Upon administration, ALVAC-CEA vaccine expresses CEA and may stimulate a host immune response against tumor cells expressing CEA. This may result in the inhibition of tumor growth and/or metastasis. CEA is overexpressed in a variety of tumor cell types.