The breakthrough technology behind Pfizer’s COVID jab could
soon be used to create a universal cancer vaccine. In trials, sufferers are
already being given shots that can shrink tumors and potentially provide
lifelong immunity against the disease, experts say.
اضافة اعلان
Scientists developing the treatment have told The Mail on
Sunday that NHS patients could have the cancer jab “in the next couple of
years”, ushering in “a new era of treatment”.
One of the first patients to benefit, 49-year-old Gavin
Grove, says he is certain that without the vaccine he would be dead by now.
After treatment for his kidney cancer failed in 2019, the
outlook was bleak, but today, thanks to the new jab, he’s in remission.
The father-of-two from Essex added: ‘the cancer vaccine
saved my life.”
Another patient, Tina Wise, 55, from Chingford said: “I’d
never heard of a vaccine for cancer before, but I was willing to try anything.”
Tina was diagnosed with bladder cancer three years ago,
after she noticed blood in her urine. After standard treatment failed and the
cancer spread to her lungs and lymph nodes, she was enrolled on the cancer
vaccine trial in 2019.
It involved nine shots over 10 weeks, with a booster shot
every four to five months.
The turnaround, for Tina, has been remarkable. ‘very soon
after I started treatment, I got a call from the girl at the hospital. She
said, “Oh my God, you’ll never guess what,” and I braced myself, because I
thought she was going to give me bad news. But instead, she told me my tumorsg
had disappeared. They couldn’t see any cancer on scans.”
So-called mRNA vaccine technology is at the heart of this
advance — the same technology that is used in the Pfizer and Moderna
COVID jabs.
Short for messenger RNA, mRNA is found inside cells: It’s
the genetic code the body uses to produce proteins, molecules that form the
building blocks of new cells, hormones, enzymes, and other compounds.
The vaccines work by introducing man-made mRNA into the
body, programmed with codes that instruct it to produce specific protein
molecules. In the case of the COVID vaccines, the injected mRNA tells cells to
produce versions of the spike protein that covers the outside of the COVID
virus.
This is harmless, but helps prime the body’s immune system
to fight the infection, stimulating it to create antibodies that ‘recognize”
the COVID spike protein.
It means the body is ready to fight real
COVID viruses,
should they ever try to invade.
This is a completely new way of creating vaccines.
Conventional vaccines work by injecting parts of a virus
itself to ‘teach” the immune system to begin producing antibodies.
The mRNA method is both a faster and more affordable means
of developing vaccines, because the vaccine doesn’t require any live biological
components like conventional vaccines do.
And, significantly, mRNA vaccine technology could, in
theory, be used to engineer any protein the body needs to boost immunity and
fight diseases such as cancer or rare genetic conditions.
The idea of a personalized cancer vaccine has long been
touted by scientists, and they have been experimenting with mRNA technology for
over 30 years. In the past decade it has been tried on diseases such as flu,
Zika virus, and rabies. Experts believe that in the future a single mRNA
vaccine could provide protection for multiple diseases, as several different
mRNA codes could be placed in one jab.
Until 2020, the technology had never been licensed for use
in humans. But the pandemic, and the huge international drive for a vaccine,
helped push forward research and change this.
In November, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was shown
to be 90 per cent effective at preventing serious illness in patients — a
result far better than anyone could have expected. BioNTech, now valued at more
than £14 billion, is at the helm of research to create the first universal
cancer vaccine. Dr Ozlem Tureci, co-founder and medical director of BionNTech,
suggested that if all goes well in trials, tumor-fighting jabs may be ready “in
the next couple of years”.
Tumors occur when, for a variety of reasons, cells in the
body go haywire and reproduce rapidly, forming a lump. Because they are made by
the body, the immune system doesn’t usually recognize the cancer as a threat
and so doesn’t attack it — which allows the disease to continue to grow.
If there was a way to help the body’s immune system
recognize the cancer, just as a vaccine helps it recognize viruses, it might be
better able to fight off the disease — so the theory went. And mRNA technology
has made this a reality.
BionNTech currently has ten mRNA cancer vaccines in varying
stages of trials, but all are made in broadly the same way.
When cancer patients undergo surgery, a sample is taken from
the removed tumor and sent to the BioNTech laboratory, where it is analyzed.
Tumor cells have their own genetic code — these vary from patient to patient,
and between types of cancer. Using this code, scientists can create synthetic
mRNA that stimulates the production of proteins like ones found on the tumor
cells, which in turn help the immune system recognize and destroy the cancer.
Because the antibodies remain in the body even after the
cancer is gone, the protective effect should be long-lasting.
At present, the BioNTech cancer vaccine is taken alongside
other immune-boosting cancer drugs.
Dr Tureci said: “This is a universal treatment where you can
basically address any type of cancer.
“Our mRNA technology allows us to sequence the cancer of
each patient, essentially creating a fingerprint of the cancer’s genetic
make-up, which we can then generate into a vaccine.”
Trials have been promising, she added. “We’ve recruited over
400 patients, many of whom have had multiple treatments already, which have
failed. We’ve learnt that the vaccines are safe, but we’ve also seen strong
immune responses.”
In one trial, Dr Tureci says more than 30 per cent of
patients with gastric cancer saw positive progress: “We’ve observed patients
with shrinking cancers, disappearing cancers. It appears as though in some
cases the vaccine is preventing the cancer from returning.”
Professor Thomas Powles, oncologist and director of the
Bart’s Cancer Center, has been leading a trial of BioNTech’s vaccine for the
pharmaceutical firm Roche, which is working in collaboration with the German
firm. He said: “In all likelihood cancer vaccines will trigger a move away from
one-size-fits all treatments. This could mean the end of chemotherapy.”
Patient Gavin Grove, a former taxi driver, was diagnosed
with kidney cancer in 2016, after he collapsed with a suspected heart attack.
“I spent 12 days on the heart ward before the doctors
realized my attack had been caused by a blood clot which had broken off from a
tumor on my kidney,” he said.
Gavin underwent surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in North
London and his kidney was removed, but nine months later scans showed the
cancer had returned.
He was referred to Bart’s Cancer Center, where he was told
that without any treatment he had less than a year to live.
“Even with standard treatment they said I’d still only have
around two years,” he said.
In 2019, Gavin was started on the mRNA cancer vaccine. He
received nine jabs over ten weeks as well as receiving immunotherapy cancer
drugs intravenously every three weeks.
“After one jab, I had a really bad fever and had to be taken
to hospital,” he recalled.
But more than 18 months on from starting the treatment,
Gavin’s tumor has shrunk by 37 per cent.
He still travels to hospital every 24 weeks for a booster
vaccine and every three weeks for immunotherapy.
He’s also now had both his Pfizer COVID vaccines and says it
was only recently he found out it was the same technology used to make his
cancer jab.
Prof Powles said that mRNA cancer vaccines still need
development before they can be approved for NHS use, but added: “We’ve proven
that it’s possible to create antibodies specific to patients’ cancers. That is
a major step.”
Could one day such a vaccine be given to healthy patients at
risk of cancer to stop them ever developing it?
Dr Juanita Lopez, consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden
NHS Foundation and The Institute of Cancer Research, said that, sadly, it’s
unlikely. “With an mRNA vaccine you need to know everything about the genetics
of the cancer you’re targeting. These are unique to each patient, so it would
be near-impossible to predict.
“You need the tumor before you can create the vaccine.”
At present, the vaccine is being trialed in patients with
advanced cancer, but the next stage will be to offer it to patients earlier.
Dr Lopez said: “It’s possible giving it immediately after
diagnosis will give the body a better chance of keeping the cancer in check.”
And, with more research, the jabs could provide lifelong
immunity to the patient.
Dr Lopez is currently recruiting for two trials, one for
patients with melanoma skin cancer and another for those with lung cancer.
“Obviously the patient wouldn’t be immune to all cancers,
but it’s possible they could have permanent resistance to the cancer they
initially had,” she explained.
For Tina Wise, the idea of knowing her cancer was gone for
good would change everything. She said: “If the doctors told me I would never
have to worry about it again, I would be over the moon.”
Although her cancer has disappeared, she still has to visit
hospital every three weeks for immunotherapy and for a booster jab every few
months.
“I would love to be able to put it all behind me and go back
to normal,” she said.
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