by A new mRNA cancer vaccine developed by pharmaceutical firm Moderna is being trialled in British patients.
The mRNA technology – adapted to do the jobs of Covid-19 – works by helping the body recognize and fight cancer cells.
Experts believe these vaccines could lead to a new generation of “off the shelf” cancer therapies.
Once in the body, the mRNA (genetic material) ‘teaches’ the immune system how to differentiate cancer cells from healthy cells and moves to destroy them.
mRNA cancer vaccines from companies such as BioNTech, Merck and Moderna are being tested in small trials around the globe, with promising results.
In some cases, vaccines are created specifically for the patient in the laboratory using their own genetic information, while others are more general vaccines aimed at specific types of cancer.
In the latest development, British patients are trying a vaccine called mRNA-4359 as part of an early-stage clinical trial that will first look at safety as well as effectiveness.
The vaccine is aimed at people with advanced melanoma, lung cancer and other solid tumor cancers.
An 81-year-old man, who is taking part in the trial arm being run by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, became the first person in the UK to receive the vaccine at Hammersmith Hospital in late October.
The Surrey man, who does not want to be named, has malignant melanoma skin cancer which is not responding to treatment.
He said: “I had different immunotherapy, I had radiotherapy, the only thing I didn’t have was chemotherapy. So, the options were to either do nothing and wait, or join and do something.
“I am extremely grateful to the hospitals and individuals who are conducting these trials.
“Somehow we have to change the fact that one in two people get cancer at some point, and we have to improve the prospects.”
During the trial, the vaccine will be tested alone and in combination with an existing drug pembrolizumab, which is an approved immunotherapy treatment, also known as Keytruda.
Between 40 and 50 patients are being recruited around the globe for the trial, called Mobilize, including in London, Spain, the United States and Australia, although it could be expanded.
Dr. Kyle Holen, head of development, therapeutics and oncology at Moderna, told the PA news agency that the vaccine could be able to treat a range of cancers.
He said: “We are currently studying melanoma patients and lung cancer patients, but we believe there is an opportunity for this vaccine in the Mobilize trial to treat many other cancers.
“We believe it may be effective in head cancer, we believe it may be effective in bladder cancer, we believe it may be effective in kidney cancer.
“So there are many cancers where we think this vaccine could be effective.
“But we’re starting with the two that we think have the highest likelihood of being effective, which are melanoma and lung cancer.”
Dr David Pinato, consultant medical oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and an investigator on the UK arm of the trial, told PA that cancer vaccines differ from immunotherapy, which helps the immune system “see” and attack. on cancer.
He said: “Current immunotherapies are removing the cloak of invisibility that hides cancer within the body, but this is very non-specific.
“The appeal of cancer vaccines is that you can make it much more specific – you can basically give written instructions to the immune system.
“It’s almost like an identification of the tumor cells, which is more accurate.”
He said the advantage of mRNA technology is that “it makes your own body produce those instructions”.
He said: “Your body wakes up the immune system because they are being produced, it is even more active.”
He said the vaccine being tested in the trial is an “off-the-shelf vaccine” rather than one tailored to each individual patient.
Although personalized vaccines can be very effective, they can take weeks to make and rely on a large tumor sample.
There also isn’t enough data right now to say whether personalized vaccines are better than broader cancer vaccines, he said.
The Moderna vaccine, he said, is looking at characteristics across several tumors.
“It’s basically looking at what is the most frequent hit you can target in cancer?,” he said.
“And so that has incredible benefits in terms of turnaround time, you can dose the vaccines ahead of time even before you meet the patient. That’s really the advantage.”
Dr. Pinato said it is not clear why some patients benefit from immunotherapy and cancer vaccines while others do not.
“My educated guess, knowing what I know about cancer immunotherapy, is that the interaction between the tumor and the immune system is very complex,” he said.
For example, some types of lung cancer respond much better than others.
“It could be that some patients could not use those vaccines well, so the immune system is so low that there would be no benefit, even with precise instructions,” he said.
“I think that after several drugs are developed for cancer, there won’t be one that really does everything.”
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said the NHS is “at the forefront of cancer vaccine trials”.
He said: “We all know how worrying a cancer diagnosis can be for people and their loved ones, but access to these ground-breaking tests – along with other innovations to diagnose and treat cancer earlier – hope, and we expect to see thousands more. patients who will participate in trials of this type over the next few years.”
Victoria Atkins, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “This vaccine has the potential to save more lives and revolutionize the way we treat this terrible disease with more effective and less systemic therapies.”
