Revolutionary Cancer Vaccine Using Covid Jab Science Can Prevent Cancer Regrowth After Surgery
The way the Pfizer vaccine works could also be used to boost anti-cancer immune cells, Boffin says.
In a world-first study from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, half of the patients were still cancer-free 18 months after the operation.
The nine-dose vaccine uses a technology called mRNA that injects genetic code to produce immune cells that target cancer cells.
Scientists at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference revealed that the vaccine triggered an immune response in eight out of 16 patients with pancreatic cancer.
Their bodies produced the killer white blood cells that kept the cancer from recurring for more than 18 months.
The cancer grew back in six out of eight patients for whom the vaccine did not work, with a median time to relapse of 13.4 months.
Scientists don’t know why only half of the vaccine works, but they hope to increase the success rate of all patients who undergo surgery, even one in five.
mRNA, a messenger ribonucleic acid, is produced in the lab to make the body attack mutant cells that would normally slip under the radar and spread.
The code tells the body to make proteins that are the basic building blocks of the body.
Study author Dr. Vinod Balachandran said, “It appears that mRNA vaccines stimulate immune responses. We are very excited.”
Dr Chris MacDonald, from Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “It’s really exciting to see these advances in a cancer that has been presented so little for so long.
“This is a very early study on a small scale, but the results are certainly promising. We urgently need more treatment options for pancreatic cancer.”
A vaccine like this would be a vital weapon against the most deadly cancer.
About 10,500 Britons develop pancreatic cancer each year.
Treatment almost always fails.
Three out of four patients die within a year.
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