Vaccines Against Cancer May Be Around the Corner

Cancer vaccines have yielded promising results.

In a standard visit with your doctor, they might review any needed vaccinations like those against chicken pox or influenza, but vaccines against cancer could be around the corner. In recent years, a slew of vaccines have been tested against various types of cancer, and preliminary but promising results have emerged. These vaccines are reactive rather than proactive, meaning that instead of being given to preemptively ward off cancer, they are administered after a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment to allow the immune system to better target any remaining cancer cells and prevent relapses. They are individually tailored for the recipient by synthesizing samples of a patient’s tumor cells and healthy cells to create an mRNA vaccine that teaches the body’s immune system how to better recognize and fight off the cancer cells.

Vaccines using mRNA were met with some hesitation by the medical community until they were widely and rapidly used to create COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Karine Breckpot, an mRNA vaccine researcher, shared with the National Cancer Institute that “Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for there to be broad acceptance of mRNA vaccines among the scientific community. But the global use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines has demonstrated the safety of this approach and will open doors for cancer vaccines.” Although limited research on mRNA cancer vaccines has been underway for some time, there has been renewed interest in recent years that is bearing hopeful news for some of the hardest cancers to treat.

Covid-19 vaccines have boosted research into cancer vaccines using similar mRNA technology.

The first clinical trial for a cancer vaccine against glioblastomas, the most aggressive and deadly brain cancer, extended the survival rate of four humans in a small study. Similarly, recent studies of vaccines for pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously deadly, as well as for colorectal cancer, showed increased immune responses that could ward off recurrences. For some patients, these activated immune cells lasted in the body for up to 3 years, and were associated with lower chances of relapse. Researchers are also developing vaccines for head and neck cancers, and liver cancers. Hopefully, further research will continue to reveal the potential of mRNA vaccines against cancer.