Recently, the US National Institutes of Health announced that personalized immunizations have successfully prevented the return of a cancer extremely deadly pancreatic cancer in about half of study participants.
Large pharmaceutical companies such as BioNTech and Moderna have also explored the potential of vaccines of mRNA, which were initially used in the fight against covid-19, to fight cancer, one of the main causes of death worldwide.
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While it may seem like something out of a futuristic science fiction movie, these scientific advances are already a reality today. Most of these vaccines are still in the testing phase, and only a few have been approved for cancer prevention.
However, despite the work that still needs to be done, these vaccines have already been preventing disease and saving lives for more than four decades.
Many people are unaware of the existence of these cancer vaccines. It is extremely important and fundamental to understand what exactly these vaccines are and what they do, in addition to preventing the initial development of the disease. Regardless of whether you are a cancer patient or not, it is crucial to educate yourself on the subject.
Understand more about the promising vaccine against cancer
Cancer vaccines work similarly to vaccines for infectious diseases such as flu, measles, mumps and covid-19, According with the doctor. Keith Knutson, a professor of immunology at the Mayo Clinic who specializes in researching and developing vaccines against cancer.
These vaccines stimulate the immune system to fight a specific target, which in this case is cancer. Currently, most cancer vaccines are therapeutic only, that is, they are used to treat patients who already have advanced cancer, usually in combination with other interventions such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy.
According to the Cancer Research Institute, there are currently two FDA-approved vaccines: one for early-stage bladder cancer and one for prostate cancer.
While the number of approved preventive cancer vaccines is quite limited, they are having a significant impact. For example, the HPV vaccine resulted in a 65% reduction in cervical cancer in women in the 20-year-olds, from 2012 to 2019, according to data released by American Cancer Society.
These women were some of the first to receive the vaccine, which was approved by the FDA in 2006. Similar reductions are expected to be seen in other HPV-related cancers that commonly occur later in life, such as head, neck, oral, rectal and vulvar cancers.
Another research target is breast cancer. Labs around the world, including Knutson's, are focused on developing vaccines that can prevent breast cancer, which is the most common type worldwide, or at least prevent recurrence in survivors.
Knutson's lab is working on a vaccine that targets six targets often found in breast cancer, and these targets are also found in cancers of the lung, ovary, and pancreas. It is believed that this generated immunity may also function as a protector against different types of cancer.
Cancer vaccines represent a promising advance in medicine, paving the way for a more personalized approach to treating and preventing this devastating disease.
The operation
At the moment, vaccines that treat active cancer are in the testing phase, with a few exceptions. However, it is important to stress that they are not cures and getting a cancer shot is a much more complex process than going to a pharmacy and getting a flu shot.
Personalized cancer vaccines are commonplace in clinical trials, but developing them is a time-consuming process. The patient needs to undergo a biopsy to determine which tumors can be targeted by the vaccine.
Next, the tumor cells are genetically sequenced to identify the most effective vaccine composition for that particular patient. The personalized vaccine is then produced and delivered to the patient.
Each step of this process can take weeks or even months, usually around six months in total, according to experts. Time is a constant challenge in this context, since it is a disease that turns time into an important resource.
Some companies are working to speed up the process. For example, biotechnology company Illumina is providing genetic sequencing capabilities to Moderna for its melanoma prevention vaccine. This allows for faster genome sequencing, reducing the time needed to deliver personalized vaccines.
Some cancer vaccines have shown promising results in clinical trials: Patients who received Moderna's personalized vaccine along with the therapy of Merck's Keytruda monoclonal antibody had a 44% reduction in the likelihood of death or cancer recurrence compared to a group that received only the Keytruda.
That vaccine is moving into Phase 3 testing, the final step before possible FDA approval.
Experts are intrigued by the apparent success of mRNA cancer vaccines such as Moderna's. They are hopeful that this technology could speed up the process of customizing cancer vaccines, which also have more tolerable side effects than chemotherapy.
mRNA vaccine technology is considered a new frontier, and its potential is still being explored.
While the development and delivery of personalized cancer vaccines still face challenges, advances Recent developments and continuing scientific research are paving the way for a new era of personalized treatment for cancer.
When will the vaccine be widely adopted?
Currently, most cancer vaccines are developed for patients with advanced disease. It's a gradual process in medicine, where we start with the most critical cases and move to earlier stages of the disease as we make progress.
However, experts believe that we will see an increasing number of therapeutic cancer vaccines being developed over the next decade. There are already several ongoing clinical trials in phases 2 and 3, which indicates that more help will be available in the relatively near future, although this will depend on adequate funding.
Although there are few financial resources focused on this discovery, there is an encouraging aspect of this situation: future researchers will be able to build on the advances made by your team. Even if he doesn't see a specific vaccine come forward, he knows he has contributed to a scientific foundation that will guide the future.
While there are still challenges to overcome, ongoing research and development provide us with hope that cancer vaccines will become increasingly available and effective in the future.