Cancer breakthrough as new vaccine ‘stops tumours in their tracks and prevents new disease’

A GROUNDBREAKING cancer vaccine could stop tumours growing in patients with advanced disease, researchers say.

Designed to prime the body to recognise and fight cancer cells, the jab could stimulate the immune system to help treat the disease more effectively, early trial results show.

Getty

Researchers described the results as “an important first step” in developing a new treatment for people with advanced cancers.

The jab, known as mRNA-4359 and developed by Moderna, is currently aimed at people with advanced melanoma, lung cancer and other solid tumour cancers.

It uses mRNA technology – similar to that used in Covid-19 vaccines – which teaches the immune system to tell the difference between healthy and cancerous cells, and mobilises it to destroy the threat.

For the first in-human study of the treatment, 19 patients with advanced solid tumours were given between one and nine doses of mRNA-4359.

Researchers found tumours did not grow and no new tumours appeared in eight of the 16 patients who were evaluated.

They also said the treatment was “well tolerated without serious side effects”.

The results will be presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology conference in Barcelona by UK chief investigator Dr Debashis Sarker, a clinical reader in experimental oncology at King’s College London and a consultant in medical oncology at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation trust.

He said: “This study evaluating an mRNA cancer immunotherapy is an important first step in hopefully developing a new treatment for patients with advanced cancers.

“We have shown that the therapy is well tolerated without serious side effects and can stimulate the body’s immune system in a way that could help to treat cancer more effectively.

“However, as this study has only involved a small number of patients to date, it’s too early to say how effective this could be for people with advanced stage cancer.”

An 81-year-old man was the first person in the UK to receive the mRNA-4359 jab at Hammersmith Hospital in late October, 2023.

The patient – who wished to remain anonymous – has malignant melanoma skin cancer which is not responding to treatment.

The study is currently enrolling patients with specific cancers – namely melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer – to have low doses of mRNA-4359 with a type of immunotherapy called pembrolizuma, also known as Keytruda.

Dr Sarkar described this as “a huge international effort across the UK, USA , Spain and Australia”.

Kyle Holen, senior vice president and health of development, therapeutics and oncology at Moderna, added: “We are encouraged by the phase 1 results of mRNA-4359, which demonstrate its potential to elicit strong antigen-specific T-cell responses while maintaining a manageable safety profile.

“This novel approach could be a key component in shifting the tumour microenvironment toward a more immune-permissive state, offering potential hope for patients with advanced solid tumours.”

Cancer therapies are getting a makeover

By Vanessa Chalmers, Health Features Editor

Cancer is no longer a death sentence when diagnosed, thanks to the ongoing emergence of treatments that can extend lives as well as better detection methods to find the disease earlier.

Scientists have learned a lot about the immune response to cancer and are now harnessing it.

When we hear the word vaccine, we typically think of it as preventing disease.

But in this case, vaccines are being used as a treatment. Once injected they train the immune system to recognise and fight cancer cells. The body itself is recruited to kill the cancer, rather than relying on medicines.

The process leaves healthy cells untouched, unlike chemotherapy, which kills healthy tissue and causes debilitating symptoms.

NHS England’s national cancer director, Dame Cally Palmer, said cancer vaccines being trialled could mark a huge step in treating the disease.

There are also personalised vaccines which are designed specifically for an individuals cancer, based on their genetics.

The challenges with personalised vaccines and other hugely advanced cancer therapies is they are very expensive to develop – and the question is whether the NHS will be able to afford such therapies when they come to fruition.

The mRNA-4359 trial is one of a number of studies testing the effectiveness of jabs that are designed to fight cancer.

A trial of a jab called BNT116, made by BioNTech, is taking place across 34 research sites in seven countries, with six located in England and Wales .

It’s hoped about 130 lung cancer patients will eventually be enrolled.

A 67-year-old lung cancer patient, Janusz Racz, became the first in the UK to have the BNT1116 vaccine in August.

Meanwhile, phase 3 trials of mRNA-4157 (V940) are underway.

This personalised mRNA jab for melanoma was given to a British patient , Steve Young, earlier this year.

Scientists use a tumour sample, along with DNA sequencing and artificial intelligence, to create a jab specific to the patient’s tumour.

In July 2023, the Government signed an agreement with BioNTech to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030.

Other cancer breakthroughs

IT’S a worrying fact that more than half of us will get cancer in our lifetime.

Each year around 385,000 people are diagnosed and 167,000 lives are lost to the disease in the UK . . . and experts have warned of an alarming new surge in the young.

But, in the face of rising cases, there is good news — the future of cancer care looks brighter .

Personalised medicine

Perhaps the most exciting new avenue of research is tailoring medicine to treat a patient’s cancer based on their own tumour’s genetic make-up.

Professor Lawrence Young, an oncologist who has been working in cancer research for 40 years, says: “We’ve learnt that by profiling the genetics, you almost get a barcode for an individual’s cancer.

“Just because somebody’s got the same stage and grade of cancer, doesn’t mean it should be treated the same, or with a particular combination of drugs.”

The NHS announced in May that it would trial personalised cancer vaccines designed by biotech giants BioNTech and Genentech.

Some 10,000 patients in England are set to get their very own disease-busting jab by 2030, through the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.

Immunotherapy

Dubbed the “biggest breakthrough since chemo”, immunotherapy harnesses the power of the immune system to fight cancer.

Antibodies seek out and mark the diseased cells for destruction but spare surrounding healthy tissue, unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Prof Young says: “We’ve known for 100 years the body tries to fight cancer with the immune system but it doesn’t really work.

“Cancer cleverly learns how to get around the immune response. It can switch off the way the immune system recognises it – but these antibodies can switch it back on again.

“Antibodies are effective alone, but where they are most effective is in combination with another type of immunotherapy.”

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) brings cancer cells out from hiding.

It has been approved for treating several cancers on the NHS, including melanoma, cervical, breast and lung cancer. But its use could be extended to bowel cancer.

Targeted cancer drugs

These work more precisely to stop cancer cells from dividing and growing, while limiting damage to healthy cells – and their uses are expanding.

Prof Young says: “This is targeting the machinery of the genetic mutations that drive cancer.

“Some are targets we’ve known about for years but were difficult, until recently, to develop drugs for.

“The normal growth of our cells is controlled by switches which become mutated and permanently switched on in cancer cells.

“Now, after years of research, we have targeted drugs which can switch off these growth signals.”

Kinase inhibitors are targeted drugs – small molecules that stop certain enzymes involved in cancer growth.

Lorlatinib, branded as Lorviqua, is used for a handful of patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

But after “groundbreaking” results in May, campaigners hope it will become a lifeline for the 350 people in the UK who are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year.

Blood tests

Early diagnosis is still the best weapon against cancer and its devastating impacts.

Blood tests are becoming increasingly sensitive in spotting the disease.

Prof Young says: “Current blood tests aren’t that great. For example, we measure the proteins PSA, for prostate cancer, or CEA, for ovarian cancer, but they’re not very specific.

“We want to do our best to cure cancer with early diagnosis, and with these interesting blood tests it might be possible to identify cancer early and remove it before we get too far.”

These new blood tests can “identify minuscule amounts of DNA shed from tumour cells into the blood”, Prof Young says.

The NHS has been trialling the Galleri blood test in England and Wales, using 140,000 volunteers so far, and will continue until 2026.