General, Research, Technology

The first pancreatic cancer vaccine has been tested successfully

According to the editors of Eurekalert, the groupresearchers from Queen Mary of the University of London, together with their Chinese colleagues from Zhengzhou University, have developed a personalized vaccination system that can ultimately prevent or delay the development of pancreatic cancer. Moreover, the vaccine has even passed the first phase of testing and the results are quite optimistic not only in terms of creating a vaccine for the prevention of pancreatic cancer, but also to slow down the growth of existing tumor formation.

Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Works!

How to create a cancer vaccine

It is worth noting that for some types of cancer alreadythere are vaccines. But in this case, vaccines do not affect the cancer itself, but its root cause. For example, drugs for vaccination against the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, are used quite successfully.

Vaccines work by training the immune systemrecognize and kill pathogens in the body. For this, immune cells must recognize molecules on the surface of pathogens called antigens. By introducing these antigens as a vaccine, the immune system can safely learn to recognize them as foreign objects and remember this if they reappear in the body. But there is a problem with cancer. The development of a prophylactic vaccine against non-viral cancers is extremely limited by the lack of appropriate tumor antigens and an effective approach to launching sustainable anti-tumor immunity. - says one of the authors of the work, Professor Yaohe Wang from Queen Mary University of London.

Therefore, in order to create a vaccine, the teamscientists had to develop an unusual method. To begin with, they took pancreatic cell samples from mice genetically predisposed to cancer and turned the cells into malignant. For this, two mutations, known as cancer factors, were introduced into the genetic code of cells. After this, the cells were infected with special viruses. Dying cells secreted specific antigens characteristic of pancreatic cancer. By responding to them, the immune system can recognize the first signs of tumors and destroy them. If you are interested in this topic, we recommend subscribing to our news telegram channel.

See also: Do ​​I need to be vaccinated?

Introducing these virus infected cellslaboratory mice, the team was able to delay the onset of the disease, doubling their survival time compared to mice that did not receive the vaccine. But there is one important point. A similar vaccine can be easily created for people, but such a vaccine will not be universal, like the same vaccine for influenza.

The genetic makeup of cancer varies from person to person.to man. This means that treatment effective for one patient may be ineffective against cancer of another. This suggests that in each case, the vaccine must be created separately. Under each specific patient at risk for pancreatic cancer.

At the moment, the team of scientists is notnot only by additional tests of the vaccine and by involving people in testing, but also examines various ways to improve the vaccine itself, including increasing the number of vaccinations or developing combination vaccines that can be combined with other methods of treating and preventing cancer. For example, with immunotherapy.