💉 World's first lung cancer vaccine being tested in clinical trials

• Clinical trials of an mRNA vaccine against lung cancer have begun in seven countries.
• The vaccine is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease.
• Approximately 130 patients will participate in the study and receive the vaccine along with immunotherapy.

New technology in the fight against lung cancer

A new vaccine that instructs the body to hunt and kill cancer cells is now being tested on patients in seven countries. The vaccine, called BNT116, is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease, reports The Guardian.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, accounting for about 1.8 million deaths each year. The survival rate for patients with advanced forms of the disease, where tumors have spread, is particularly low.

Scope of the study

The phase 1 clinical trial, the first to test BNT116 in humans, has been launched in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and Turkey.

A total of approximately 130 patients will participate in the study. Participants are at various stages of the disease, from early stages before surgery or radiation therapy to late stages or recurrent cancer.

Janusz Racz, 67, from London, was the first person to receive the vaccine in the UK. He was diagnosed in May and soon after began chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Racz, a researcher specializing in AI, said his profession inspired him to participate in the study. He received six consecutive injections five minutes apart over 30 minutes. Each injection contained different RNA strands. He will receive the vaccine weekly for six consecutive weeks, and then every three weeks for 54 weeks.

How the vaccine works

The vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA), similar to Covid-19 vaccines. It works by presenting tumor markers from NSCLC to the immune system to prepare the body to fight cancer cells expressing these markers.

The goal is to strengthen the person's immune response against cancer while leaving healthy cells untouched, unlike chemotherapy.

Professor Siow Ming Lee, who leads the study in the UK, says:

"It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”

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