Researchers are optimistic about the potential of applying this vaccine technology to proactively prevent cancer. A recent small-scale study demonstrated that personalized cancer vaccines effectively hindered tumor growth in 50% of the participants.
Historically, pancreatic cancer has been a grim prognosis, with limited chances of survival, even for those enduring arduous treatment procedures encompassing chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical tumor removal.
However, findings unveiled on May 10 in the journal Nature propose that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, the same innovation employed in creating preventive measures for COVID-19, could hold promise in preventing the resurgence of these challenging-to-treat tumors.
In this investigation, researchers scrutinized samples of tumor tissue from 16 individuals who had undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer. Subsequently, each patient received a tailored mRNA vaccine designed for their specific tumor type.
Among the participants, half exhibited a robust immune response following vaccination, and in these cases, tumors did not resurface throughout a median follow-up period of 18 months. In contrast, among patients who did not respond to the vaccine, tumors reappeared after a median follow-up period of approximately 13 months.
“These exciting results indicate we may someday be able to use vaccines as a therapy against pancreatic cancer,” said the senior study author, Vinod Balachandran, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, in a statement. “The evidence supports our strategy to tailor each vaccine to each patient’s tumor.”
Larger Trials Needed to Hone and Confirm Findings Seen
Apart from its limited scale, an additional constraint of the study pertains to its exclusively white participant cohort. It remains plausible that these outcomes might not be applicable to individuals from diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds.
A more extensive clinical trial, projected to commence participant recruitment this summer, holds promise. According to the provided statement, this trial aims to encompass a larger number of patients.
Should this expanded trial yield results that validate the preliminary findings regarding the mRNA pancreatic cancer vaccine, it could mark a noteworthy advancement in treatment. Currently, only a limited array of immune therapies exist that exhibit the capability to delay or prevent tumor recurrence in individuals who undergo surgery for pancreatic cancer. Anirban Maitra, MBBS, a professor and the director of the pancreatic research center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, emphasized the potential significance of such an achievement.
“Further, while this trial was geared toward preventing recurrences in patients who already have cancer, the mRNA vaccine could also be used in a future trial to prevent pancreatic cancer from happening altogether in the first place in high-risk patients — that will be holy grail as far I am concerned,” Dr. Maitra, who wasn’t involved in the new study, stated.
Providing Hope for Those Living With Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer stands as the fourth major contributor to cancer-related deaths among both males and females in the United States. The prospects of survival over a five-year period for these individuals merely reach 12 percent.
It’s notable that a significant 80 percent of pancreatic cancer cases are detected at a stage where the tumors have progressed to such an extent that surgical intervention is no longer feasible, as explained by Maitra. The recent study on the vaccine primarily centered around the subset of patients who undergo surgery and have the most favorable chances of survival, according to Maitra’s remarks.
“If the larger trials show that the vaccine can effectively delay recurrences and allow patients to live longer, that will be a real testament to the power of this vaccine strategy,” Maitra added. “However, we have to first wait for those larger trials to happen.”
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