Reports in Russia’s state-run news agency this week claimed that Russian scientists have developed an mRNA vaccine that has shown the ability to suppress tumor growth and metastasis in pre-clinical trials.
What else is known about this Russian vaccine candidate?
Not much.
According to reports in the Russian media, the vaccine could be personalized – using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect genetic mutations in less than an hour.
Russians can get these “cancer shots” for free starting next year, according to reports.
On the website of the National Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health, there is a one-paragraph description of the work of the Russian researchers.
It says the “personalized mRNA vaccines” will be based on genetic analysis of each individual’s tumor on a “unique software platform” to identify mutations called neoantigens.
Personalized vaccines based on this information will train the body’s immune system to recognize and target cancer cells.
So are we on the cusp of a major medical breakthrough?
We don’t know yet.
Experts said that in the absence of detailed data on the Russian formulation, they weren’t sure how it might work — or which cancer patients might benefit from it.
The availability of research data from Russian (and Chinese) institutes has often posed a challenge. According to an announcement by Russian scientists quoted in state media reports, one of the three institutes involved in the research is the Gamalya National Research Center of Epidemiology – the same institute that developed Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine during the Covid-19 pandemic. Epidemic.
The data from the Sputnik V test was later questioned on several grounds. The test group was found to be too small to generate good evidence, similar values were reported for many variables, and there were some other inconsistent data patterns.
But in general, how do cancer vaccines work?
Unlike vaccines for infections — where healthy people are given shots to protect against disease — cancer vaccines are given to people who already have certain types of cancer.
“Cancer vaccines have a few different approaches – they can be given in combination with other treatments for better results or they can be given as maintenance to prevent recurrence,” said Dr Hasmukh Jain, professor of medical oncology at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.
Dr Jain cautioned against premature excitement and expecting a one-shot blanket immunity against all cancers. “Though there have been many successes, there have been no great achievements. There is no cancer vaccine that can work on all types of cancer, they can only work on certain types of cancer or cancers with specific mutations,” he said.
From the description of the Russian scientists’ work on the website, it appears that they are working on a pancreatic cancer vaccine that the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) is working on.
Pancreatic cancer surgeon Dr. Vinod P. Balachandran and his team at MSK met a small group of patients who overcame the odds and survived—and realized that unlike most cancer patients, these patients’ immune systems were able to recognize cancer cells. Attack them.
Cancer cells are normal human cells that grow abnormally, so the immune system can’t tell the difference. A small, lucky group that beat the odds included people with a protein called a ‘neoantigen’ that suppresses the immune system.
And what exactly are neoantigens?
These are proteins that are only found in cancer cells, which the body’s immune system can be trained to recognize, allowing the body’s own immune system to fight the cancer.
Balachandran’s team found that immune cells could continue to recognize these neoantigens up to 12 years after the tumor was removed.
What this means is that the immune system, once it recognizes the neoantigens, can continue to fight the cancer cells, thereby preventing a recurrence.
This process is similar to the way vaccines teach the immune system to recognize pathogens, against which protection can last for years, sometimes a lifetime.
So are there any approved cancer vaccines?
Cancer vaccines like this fall under the category of immunotherapy – where various methods are used to train the body’s immune system to fight cancer.
The only cancer vaccine approved by the US FDA is Sipuleucel-T, which was green-lit in 2010 for the treatment of prostate cancer. The personalized vaccine was developed by collecting patients’ immune cells, exposing them to a protein found at high levels in prostate cancer cells, and then giving them back to the patients. However, it only extended the patient’s survival by four months.
“Many teams around the world are working on vaccines for different cancers, but they have not been very successful. There has only been one cancer vaccine and it has not changed treatment much,” said Dr Abhishek Shankar, an oncologist at AIIMS.
Dr. Shankar said that the cost of approving a new product is likely to be high. “Then we have to see if there’s enough of a mortality benefit to use it. Do the patients get better, do they live longer? That has to be taken into account,” he said.
For vaccines and immunotherapies to be successful, they must have a good cost-benefit ratio, and must also be included in government programs, Dr. Shankar said.
Are there any vaccine-preventable cancers?
yes There are at least two cancers whose incidence can be reduced by vaccination against the two pathogens. More than 95% of all cervical cancer cases are associated with persistent infection with certain high-risk strains of HPV – Meaning Vaccination against HPV Can effectively reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.
Preventing chronic hepatitis B infection by vaccination may also reduce the incidence of liver cancer.
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