The world’s first personalized mRNA cancer jab is being tested in British patients, offering a beacon of hope for people living with skin cancer. This “game-changer” jab is custom-made for each patient and instructs the body to identify tumor cells, stopping them from returning. The treatment is also being tested for bladder, lung, and kidney cancers. A stage-two trial found it significantly reduced melanoma recurrence in the UK, with a full trial now underway at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Trial coordinator Dr. Heather Shaw said the vaccine was “one of the most exciting things we’ve seen in a long time.”
The bespoke vaccination is an early example of a new approach known as ‘preventive immunotherapy,’ where vaccines can prevent cancer from occurring rather than just treating existing cancer when it does arise. The vaccines can be targeted at the DNA of cancerous cells or at markers on the surface of the tumor to prompt the body’s immune system to recognize and kill these cells before they can spread beyond the initial tumor.
In this melanoma study, scientists at Moderna and MSD (which has developed a world-leading mRNA vaccine for COVID-19) took a sample of each patient’s tumor and then looked at the letters in their genes. They picked up 34 of the most mutated parts of the tumor’s DNA, or neoantigens, and encoded them into a single mRNA strand. The mRNA is the building block of the cell and the body’s software, so when the vaccine was given to patients, it instructed the body to produce these proteins.
Once produced, these antibodies can be used to identify cancerous cells and attack them. This is a radical new way of treating cancer, and it offers a glimpse into the future of how we might treat all kinds of diseases.
The melanoma vaccine was given to 157 patients diagnosed with either stage 3 or stage 4 melanoma. It was given in combination with pembrolizumab, a treatment already shown to reduce melanoma recurrence rates dramatically in earlier studies. In the study, those receiving both treatments saw a further 44% reduction in melanoma recurrence compared to those who received only pembrolizumab.
However, the results are not yet peer-reviewed, and details about the vaccine’s effects on specific T-cell levels, which can recognize and eliminate pathogenic cancer cells, have not been disclosed. Further trials will be needed to verify these promising early findings.
The government is helping to accelerate these exciting trials by signing a memorandum of understanding today with biopharma company BioNTech, which has developed world-leading vaccine technology, to bring it to England for the first time. This will enable access to clinical trials into mRNA cancer vaccines for various types of cancers, with the possibility that the treatments could be available as early as autumn 2023. This will help to deliver on the commitment of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, to give people in England early access to new life-changing treatments.
