Skip to main content

Move over chemotherapy? Personalized anti-cancer vaccines make strides

anti-cancer vaccines
Antonprado/123RF
Curing cancer could one day be as straightforward as getting an injection — if two new studies on anti-cancer vaccines are anything to go by.

Both studies were published in Nature this month and detail pioneering Phase I trials of possible personalized cancer vaccines that are designed to aid the body’s immune systems against skin cancer. Impressively, both found that the therapeutic vaccines — either on their own or in combination with other immunotherapies — were able to prevent the recurrence of melanomas.

Recommended Videos

One study was conducted by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, while the other was the work of investigators at BioNTech, a biotech company in Germany. As with any vaccine, the idea behind the “neoantigen” cancer vaccines isn question is to teach a patient’s body to battle against the developing pathology — in this case, tumor cells. Because each tumor is different, vaccines need to be personalized based on the neoantigens in each patient’s tumor.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“Our immune system is in principle able to fight cancer by recognizing mutations in tumor cells,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, who led the research in Germany, told Digital Trends. “Cancer mutations are ideal pieces of information to specifically instruct the immune system. Mutations are generated by random genetic alterations during the development of cancer, exquisitely restricted to the cancer cells, and are not found on normal tissues. As a vaccine, we use synthetic messenger RNA that carries the information about the set of individual mutations. We studied the approach in 13 patients with late-stage melanoma. Their cancer mutations were identified by comparing the genome sequence of the tumor with normal samples obtained from the same patient. We used computerized algorithms to deal with the huge amount of data, to extract useful information and to design a unique RNA vaccine for each patient.”

A similar approach was followed by the researchers in Boston — except that they incorporated the neoantigens into the vaccine themselves, rather than having the patient’s own cells generate it. Regardless of the approach, both studies were able to eliminate the cancer in almost all cases.

As Sahin notes of his own study: “Most of the patients remained melanoma relapse free in the subsequent observation period up to 27 months. This was impressive, as all these patients had a history of experiencing melanoma relapses multiple times.”

The solution isn’t as straightforward as a flu shot, however. For one thing, it requires that a patient has already had cancer, rather than being able to be used as a preventative measure. It also is less effective in early-stage cancer, and due to the personalized nature of the vaccines, takes a while to develop for each patient, which is not ideal when time may not be on a person’s side.

However, it’s definitely a significant advance — and very exciting for what neoantigen vaccines could mean for future research and drug development. Along with cancer-detecting algorithms, graphene, and artificial organs, it’s another reason we love cutting-edge tech!

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Is a Jeep Cherokee replacement slated for 2025?
Jeep Cherokee

Jeep is remaining somewhat mysterious about the name of a new hybrid SUV slated to be part of the brand’s lineup in 2025.
Speaking at the Los Angeles Auto Show recently, Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa would only say that a new compact SUV with a hybrid powertrain was indeed on the way, according to Automotive News.
Filosa had already confirmed last spring that a new “mainstream” large SUV would soon be launched by Jeep, adding that we "could probably guess what it will be called." His comments had sparked speculation that the Cherokee brand name would be back.
While the brand name has existed since 1974, the Cherokee Nation in the U.S. had officially asked Jeep to stop using its name in 2021.
Early last year, Jeep quietly discontinued the model, which was one of its most iconic SUVs of the past 50 years.
The reason? Besides slumping sales, Jeep at the time cited the confluence of market dynamics, consumer preferences, and strategic brand realignment.
The Cherokee was viewed as a classic four-door SUV, known both for its reliability and its ability to suit both off-road and urban environments.
But with time, “consumer preferences have significantly shifted towards larger SUVs equipped with the latest technology and enhanced safety features,” Jeep said at the time. “This trend is accompanied by an increasing demand for environmentally friendly vehicles, steering the market towards hybrid and electric models.”
While no one knows for sure what the new SUV hybrid will be called, Jeep's parent company, Stellantis, is certainly doing everything it can to steer all its brands in the hybrid and electric direction.

Stellantis recently launched a new platform called STLA Frame that’s made for full-size trucks and SUVs. The platform is designed to deliver a driving range of up to 690 miles for extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) and 500 miles for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

Read more
Teslas likely won’t get California’s new EV tax rebate
teslas likely wont get californias new ev tax rebate ap newsom 092320 01 1

California seems eager to reassert itself, not only as one of the largest economies in the world, but one where EVs will continue to thrive.

Governor Gavin Newsom has announced California will seek to revive state-tax rebates for electric vehicles should the incoming Trump administration carry out its plans to end the existing $7,500 federal incentive on EVs.

Read more
Kia PHEVs’ electric range will double to 60 miles
kia phevs electric range will double to 60 miles cq5dam thumbnail 1024 680

Besides making headlines about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of ending federal rebates on EVs in the U.S., Kia is setting its sights on doubling the range its plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can run on while in electric mode.

With affordability and finding chargers remaining among the main hurdles to full EV adoption, drivers this year have increasingly turned to PHEVs, which can function in regular hybrid gas/electric mode, or in full electric mode. The issue for the latter, however, is that range has so far remained limited.

Read more