Scientists move a step closer to universal vaccine against cancer

Scientists are not only moving toward a better understanding of cancer – attributed to modern life – but also a universal vaccine for the dreaded ailment.

The forthcoming universal vaccine would make the body’s immune system attack tumours like it was attacking a virus. To do that, an international team of researchers, led by Professor Ugur Sahin from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, took pieces of cancer’s genetic RNA code and put it into tiny nanoparticles of fat, reports Sunshinecoastdaily.

They then injected the mixture into the bloodstream of three patients who have advanced stages of skin cancer, reports News.com.au. The patients’ immune system produced “killer” T-cells designed to attack cancer.

When tested on mice, the vaccine was effective in battling aggressively growing tumours on the rodents. The study targeted dendritic cells in the immune system of mice, using the vaccine with nanoparticles that carried the tumour RNA.

Adjusting the nanoparticles’ electrical charge triggers a response from the dendritic cells to fight the cancer similar to how it battles viruses. The vaccine used was fast and inexpensive to produce which could encode with RNA any cancer antigens or molecules.

On the human trials, the first patient’s suspected tumour on a lymph node shrank after the vaccine. The second patient, who had the tumour removed through surgery, was cancer-free seven months after being injected. The third patient’s eight tumours, which spread from melanoma into the lungs, were clinically stable after the vaccine, according to the study was published in Nature journal on Thursday.