Scientists Close To Creating A ‘Universal Cancer Vaccine’

Scientists have taken a very positive step toward creating a universal cancer vaccine. This vaccine makes the body’s immune system attack tumors as if they were viruses, Science Alert reports.

Based on early trials in human participants and research in mice, results has suggested that this technique could be used against any type of tumor, regardless of its location in the body. A research team led by Professor Ugur Sahin at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany created the vaccine. They have said that the vaccine makes the body’s immune system attack tumors as if they were viruses.

How, exactly, does this “universal vaccine” work? Initially, it loads up tiny darts with pieces of RNA extracted from the cancer cells of the patient. Then, it shoots these darts at the immune system of the body, thus convincing them that the source of the RNA extract, the tumors, are a threat. As a result, the immune system wages a full on war against the tumors, destroying any tumors they come across. So, theoretically, by changing the RNA extract in those initial darts, the immune system can be led to fight against any kind of cancer. How’s that for tactical warfare?

The researchers originally published their findings in Nature, where they clearly described the working mechanism of their universal cancer vaccine.

“…had taken pieces of the cancer’s genetic RNA code, put them into tiny nanoparticles of fat and then injected the mixture into the bloodstreams of three patients in the advanced stages of the disease.”

“In response to the vaccine, the patient’s immune system produced “killer” T-cells specifically designed to attack the cancer.”

Although the patient’s immune system seemed to react as expected, there was no concrete evidence of the cancer going away as a consequence. The paper published by the researchers clearly states that the aim of this trail was not to test whether the vaccine could cure cancer as much as it was to see whether it was a safe procedure for human use. As to that, the results have definitely been encouraging. This is why scientists are calling this “a major step” toward creating a universal cancer vaccine.

“[These] vaccines are fast and inexpensive to produce, and virtually any tumor antigen [a protein attacked by the immune system] can be encoded by RNA.”

“Thus, the nanoparticulate RNA immunotherapy approach introduced here may be regarded as a universally applicable novel vaccine class for cancer immunotherapy.”

Another interesting point is that this particular vaccine works very differently when compared to the regular vaccines available. This vaccine would, in effect, cure patients who already have cancer, rather than those who stand a risk of getting it.

Immunotherapy has several advantages over traditional cancer treatment methods such as chemo therapy, radiation therapy, or surgery. Cancer immunotherapy, which involves using the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer, is not something new. It has been garnering significant attention in medical community with researches practicing it against different types of cancer with encouraging results. However, until now, immunotherapy involved preparing genetically engineered special, cancer-targeting immune cells in the lab, and then injecting them back into the patient. This was time consuming and expensive.

The advantage of this new technique is that the vaccine introduces the cancer DNA into the immune cells within the body, which is a lot less invasive. It also means that the vaccine can be easily modified to work against different kinds of cancer.

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