First Lung Cancer Vaccine Trials Launched, Powered by COVID mRNA Technology – National

The mRNA revolution continues. Just a few years after mRNA vaccines proved effective against COVID-19, scientists are now turning their attention to lung cancer.

The mRNA vaccine, known as BTN116, developed by German biotechnology company BioNTech, is the first of its kind and has entered phase 1 clinical trials in seven countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. This vaccine is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease.

“Lung cancer is the world’s biggest killer, and using mRNA technology, this is just the first generation,” said Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospitals (UCHL) Clinical Research Facility, which is leading the UK trial.

“But hopefully it’s a start and it could lead to better outcomes for lung cancer patients worldwide, not just in the UK but other places like Canada, America and China,” he told Global News.

The vaccine works by identifying and attacking cancer cells, Lee said, and is intended to complement other lung cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

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Phase 1 clinical trials have started at 34 research sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey. In the US, three locations are currently recruiting patientswhere we accept people in both early and late stages of the disease.

“It’s very exciting. If we look back less than four years with the mRNA COVID vaccine, people had doubts and there was uncertainty, but it absolutely works,” Lee said. “I think people need to remember that the COVID-19 vaccine worked for cancer patients. It reduced mortality more than the general population.”

In Canada, lung cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths. According to Lung Cancer CanadaMore than 20,000 Canadians will die from lung cancer this year, more than the combined number of deaths from breast, prostate and colon cancers.

The disease is also the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwidewith 1.8 million deaths in 2020, accounting for the highest mortality rates among both men and women.

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Although treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery and radiation are available, lung cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, leaving fewer treatment options. according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

But mRNA technology could represent the next big advance in cancer treatment, by training the immune system to target and fight lung cancer cells, Lee said.

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The development of the lung cancer vaccine began four years ago, after the successful creation of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna, Lee explains.

Not only was the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine shown to be safe and effective in protecting against the virus, but the scientific community also observed a reduction in mortality rates among cancer patients, he said.

Although mRNA technology has been in development for decades, it has gained popularity due to the success of the COVID-19 vaccines, which have proven its effectiveness in fighting viruses.

The technology works by using messenger RNA to give the body instructions to produce proteins that prepare the immune system to attack specific viruses. This same principle can be applied to use the immune system to attack tumors.

“The COVID vaccine targets a spike protein of the virus,” Lee said.

“So we’re going to use this very simple technology to target the cancer protein, so we’ve identified a very common protein in lung cancer patients… and there are many more proteins for melanoma and other cancers… but this is a lung cancer patient. We’re going to grow this mRNA vaccine against the protein and then it will detect the lung cancer.”

But we cannot do this alone, he stressed.

The mRNA vaccine should be combined with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, depending on the severity of the cancer.

Janusz Racz, a 67-year-old lung cancer patient from the United Kingdom, was the first to receive the vaccine as part of the clinical trials that began on Tuesday.

“I thought about it and … decided to participate because I hoped it would provide a defense against cancer cells. But I also thought that my participation in this study might help other people in the future and make this therapy more widely available,” he said in a press release on Friday.

Unlike the COVID-19 vaccine, which requires only one to two shots, lung cancer treatment involves multiple doses.

So far, Racz has had six consecutive injections five minutes apart for 30 minutes, Lee said. He will get the vaccine every week for six consecutive weeks, and then every three weeks for 54 weeks.

The goal is to eradicate the cancer and prevent its recurrence. Lee stressed, however, that it is still early days, as the vaccine is currently in phase 1 clinical trials. After successful safety trials, Lee expects the vaccine to enter phase 2 in 2025.

“It’s a long journey ahead. But hopefully we can start this vaccine research in the same way that we were able to do with the COVID vaccine,” he said.

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