💉 mRNA vaccine against pancreatic cancer shows promising results

• Patients who developed an immune response from the personalized cancer vaccine have not yet experienced recurrence after more than three years of follow-up.
• The vaccine creates T cells that can live for up to 100 years and retain their ability to identify and fight cancer cells.
• This is the first time researchers have shown that an mRNA vaccine can create a long-lasting immune response against cancer.

Long-lasting T cells against cancer

A new study published by researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shows that a personalized mRNA vaccine against pancreatic cancer has created a lasting immune response in patients in a phase 1 study. After 3.2 years of follow-up, patients who developed T cells against the vaccine had not experienced any recurrence, while patients without an immune response had a median time to recurrence of 13.4 months.

The vaccine, called autogene cevumeran, uses lipoplex nanoparticles with mRNA to teach the immune system to recognize specific mutations in patients' tumors. This is particularly relevant for pancreatic cancer, which has few mutations but is one of the deadliest forms of cancer with 88 percent mortality.

The vaccine creates new immune defenses

The most remarkable aspect of the study is that the T cells created by the vaccine had an estimated lifespan of 7.7 years on average, with some cells that can live up to 100 years. This is unique because these T cells did not exist in patients' bodies before vaccination.

In the six patients who were followed up after approximately three years, 86 percent of the vaccine-induced T cells still remained and constituted a significant part of the immune defense in the blood.

T cells retain their ability to fight cancer

The researchers also showed that the T cells retained their ability to recognize and fight cancer cells even three years after vaccination. This is crucial for an effective cancer vaccine because many immunotherapy methods can lead to T cells becoming exhausted and losing their function over time.

Signs of effect against cancer

The researchers also examined recurrent tumors in two patients and found that the tumors had evolved to contain fewer cancer clones with the mutations targeted by the vaccine. This suggests that the immune system was actually attacking cancer cells with these mutations.

A global randomized study is now underway to further investigate the vaccine's effect. Because mutations are a fundamental characteristic of cancer cells, the researchers believe that this type of cancer vaccine can be tested for many different types of cancer.

The future of cancer vaccines

This is the first time researchers have shown that an mRNA vaccine can create a long-lasting immune response against cancer that lasts for several years, and potentially can outlive the patient.

The vaccine was most effective when given to patients after surgery, when the tumor burden was minimal. This indicates that similar strategies may work best in an adjuvant setting, when most cancer cells have been removed but there is a risk of recurrence.

The results suggest that future cancer vaccines may need to target all heterogeneous cancer clones to be effective, with repeated sampling to adapt the vaccine against new mutations that emerge.

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