The Business Press – June 26, 2023 at 05:00PM
Scientists are optimistic about the future of cancer treatment, as recent research offers new hope for patients. Instead of preventing disease, cancer vaccines aim to shrink tumors and prevent the cancer from coming back. This new approach has shown promise, with successful trials for breast and lung cancer, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer.
For a vaccine to work, it needs to help the immune system identify cancer cells as dangerous. This is accomplished by training the T cells (the cells responsible for attacking foreign cells) in the immune system. Once trained, these cells can travel anywhere in the body and identify tumors, hopefully eliminating them.
Because of the complexity of the immune system and cancer’s ability to outwit it, early research in cancer vaccine development was difficult and discouraging. But researchers have learned valuable lessons from those early trials, and new vaccine studies are showing great promise.
Drugmakers Moderna and Merck are working together to develop personalized vaccines for melanoma patients based on the unique mutations in each patient’s cancer tissue. These vaccines have shown promising results, but they are also quite expensive. Other vaccines under development at UW Medicine are designed to work for multiple patients, reducing costs and increasing access to effective treatments. These vaccines are currently being tested in early and advanced cases of breast, lung, and ovarian cancer, with results expected next year.
Despite the challenges, patients and researchers remain committed to the development of effective cancer vaccines. Clinical trials for vaccines against Lynch-related cancers have been easy to recruit for, and patients are enthusiastic about the potential these vaccines offer. With so much progress in recent years, many believe cancer vaccines may be the next big thing in reducing cancer-related deaths.
The Business Press 