September 12th 2024.
A new vaccine has been developed to target cancer cells in patients with advanced cancers, giving hope for a potential new treatment. The vaccine, known as mRNA-4359, has been created by pharmaceutical company Moderna, who are known for their development of Covid-19 vaccines. This new jab is designed to prime the body's immune system to recognize and fight cancer cells, potentially leading to more effective treatment for the disease.
In the first trial of the vaccine, 19 patients with advanced solid tumors were given between one and nine doses of mRNA-4359. The results were promising, with 8 out of 16 evaluated patients showing no tumor growth or appearance of new tumors. The treatment was also well-tolerated, with no serious side effects reported.
The first person in the UK to receive the vaccine was an 81-year-old man with melanoma skin cancer that was not responding to other treatments. He received the vaccine at Hammersmith Hospital in late October last year. Dr. Debashis Sarker, the chief investigator of the study, described this as an important first step in the development of a new treatment for advanced cancers.
However, the study has only involved a small number of patients so far, so it is too early to determine the full effectiveness of the vaccine. As a result, the study is enrolling more patients with specific cancers such as melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer. These patients will receive low doses of mRNA-4359 along with pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug often used in chemotherapy.
The senior vice president and head of development, therapeutics and oncology at Moderna, Kyle Holen, expressed his encouragement at the results of the trial, stating that the vaccine has the potential to elicit strong immune responses while maintaining a manageable safety profile. He also believes that this novel approach could shift the tumor microenvironment, offering hope for patients with advanced solid tumors.
Dr. Sarker also highlighted the international effort behind this project, involving researchers from the UK, USA, Spain, and Australia. This is not the only trial of a cancer-fighting vaccine, as there are several others currently underway. One such trial is using personalized mRNA vaccines for melanoma, while another is testing a lung cancer jab developed by BioNTech.
The lung cancer jab, known as BNT116, was given to the first patient in August this year. This trial aims to enroll 130 patients across multiple countries, with the goal of providing precision cancer immunotherapies to 10,000 patients by 2030. These promising developments in cancer treatment offer hope for the thousands of people diagnosed with cancer each year, making it a huge international effort to find more effective treatments.
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