Researchers in Europe, led by Dr. Uğur Şahin at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, have created a remarkable new vaccine that helps the human body fight cancer using its own immune defences.
The vaccine is a form of immunotherapy, meaning a treatment that harnesses the power of the immune system. In this case, the treatment causes our immune cells to attack and destroy cancer mutations – the changes cancer makes to a person’s DNA.
The vaccine is part of a new wave of medications that use mRNA, a molecule that is a carrier of genetic information and that can change how the immune system behaves and even redirect it towards a specific target.
Although the drug’s healing power comes from the body’s own immunity, it relies on technology to apply that power in the right way.
The treatments are personalised, targeting a patient’s specific mutations.
The cancerous mutations are detected using computational algorithms, and the treatments can then be tailored to act on those most likely to be vulnerable to immune cell attack.
Even more exciting, the drug is universal – it is equally effective across different types of cancer. This is because mutations happen in every kind of tumour, so they all share the same vulnerability to this new technology.
The research team has treated many hundreds of patients during trials. The work to bring the finished cancer vaccine to clinicians and their patients is still ongoing, but so far, the results have been remarkable.
Trials in humans show the immune system attacking tumour cells in every vaccinated patient.
Researchers are excited about the amazing potential of the vaccine, which could change the face of healthcare as we know it. For now though, their task is to refine their discovery and make sure any weaknesses are fixed.
The team is working with clinical and industrial partners to make this futuristic-sounding drug a reality for cancer patients.