The big pharmaceutical manufacturers are working flat out on vaccines once morest cancer. Other diseases should also be treated in this way by the end of the decade.
Research into the fight once morest cancer is progressing rapidly: the pharmaceutical company Moderna has now expressed confidence that vaccines for heart problems, autoimmune diseases and even cancer should be available by 2030.
“The vaccine will be highly effective and will save many hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives. I think we will be able to bring personalized cancer vaccines to people around the world once morest several different types of tumors,” said Dr. Paul Burton, head of medicine at Moderna, the British “Guardian”. The basis is the so-called mRNA technology, on the basis of which individual therapies can be produced for patients (read more regarding this further down in the article).
Therapies once morest rare diseases possible
According to Burton, it is also possible that in the future several respiratory infections might be covered by a single injection. In this way one might protect vulnerable people once morest Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). And therapies for rare diseases might also be available.
Both Moderna and Biontech started before the corona pandemic with the aim of developing vaccinations once morest cancer. The pandemic has accelerated research into mRNA technology, which has already been used in corona vaccinations.
First successes in experimental studies
In January, Moderna reported the results of an advanced study of its experimental mRNA vaccine once morest RSV: The vaccine was 83.7 percent effective in preventing at least two symptoms, such as cough and fever, in patients over 60 years of age. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rated this as a breakthrough therapy – the authorities want to test the vaccine more quickly. In February, an experimental Moderna vaccine once morest skin cancer received the same status.
How does mRNA technology work?
In order to be able to develop an individual vaccination once morest cancer with mRNA technology, tissue samples are taken from the tumor and healthy cells of the diseased and operated people. Laboratory tests determine which proteins distinguish the two cell types from one another. A protein that is typical of the cancer cells is then injected using mRNA technology. This alerts the immune system and stimulates an immune response. As a result, the body attacks the cancer cells.
“The approach is very well suited for fighting cancer,” explained Dr. Andreas Radbruch, immunologist and scientific director of the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin, in an interview with t-online (read the entire article here). “This technology makes it possible to quickly produce a vaccine that is individually tailored for each patient, which precisely exploits the small differences between cancer cells and healthy body cells, alerts the immune system and allows it to attack the tumor cells in a targeted manner.”
However, the technology still has one disadvantage for cancer vaccines in the development phase: so far it can only be used in people who already have cancer. The individual profiles of the cancer cells must first be identified.
