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The same mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines could help treat cancer - Yahoo News
Jun 19, 2021 3 mins, 30 secs
Bill Gates says COVID-19 is just one of the many diseases mRNA vaccines will be able to tackle over the next five years.

About a year before Fentress got his double shots of COVID-19 vaccine made with mRNA, the painting contractor was infused with a personalized version to fight his cancer.

Fentress, 68, was an early participant in a clinical trial intended to see whether a vaccine made with the same technology used to prevent COVID-19 could boost the immune system enough to search out and destroy lingering cancer cells.

Companies like Moderna and Pfizer's partner BioNTech, whose names are familiar from COVID-19 vaccines, are using mRNA to spur cancer patients' bodies to make vaccines that will – hopefully – prevent recurrences and treatments designed to fight off advanced tumors.

"We feel pretty good about enrolling patients on these trials and are hopeful that ultimately they can demonstrate improved outcomes," said Dr.

He hopes that the vaccine, made with mRNA, will prevent his melanoma from recurring.

Doctors are remaining cautious because cancer vaccine development "has been littered with vaccines that haven't hit the mark," said Dr.

At the moment, most of the mRNA cancer vaccine trials are targeting tumors such as melanoma and kidney cancer, where drugs called checkpoint inhibitors have already made a significant difference for many patients.

Read more: German scientist Özlem Türeci was focused on cancer at BioNTech, then came COVID-19.

Trials of mRNA cancer vaccines, like the one Fentress began in spring 2020, aim to boost that number even higher by adding soldiers to the fight.

They then create a single mRNA that triggers the body to make these proteins – just as COVID-19 vaccines trigger production of the spike protein that sits on the surface of the virus.

"The T cells will outnumber (cancer cells) and will be able to control them," Türeci said.

As with Fentress, surgical samples or a biopsy are sent to a lab where a patient's cancer cells are compared to healthy ones.

A computer algorithm analyzes the mutations distinct to the cancer cells, looking for ones that trigger the production of T cells, said Melissa J.

So far, she said, Moderna, working with partner Merck, has tested these personalized vaccines in about 100 patients.

They aim eventually to make a personalized mRNA vaccine within about 45 days after the patient's cancer surgery, during their recovery. .

And while a few errant cancer cells are very diverse, once a tumor has spread throughout the body, it tends to develop consistent mutations, Türeci said.

Mutated cancer cells have proteins on their surface that can be targeted by an mRNA vaccine. For a tumor that has, say, five common mutations, a patient could get a combination of five of these vaccines.

What still needs to be proven, experts say, is whether mRNA vaccines can help win the battle against cancer, and if so, which approach will be better for which patients.

The federal government currently lists 29 studies underway or will be soon investigating mRNA cancer vaccines.

To be worth any cost, mRNA vaccines will have to make a significant impact on survival, adding years not just weeks to someone's life, said Sullivan, at Mass.

But the fact that immune therapy has cured some cancer patients suggests there will be a way to spread those benefits to others, he said.

In addition to treatment and prevention, mRNA can be used to turn the patient's body into a cancer drug-making machine.

Instead, using mRNA technology, the patient's body could be triggered to produce the protein itself.

Fighting COVID-19 proved a huge boon to the cancer mRNA field. .

Moderna produced its first doses of COVID-19 vaccine just two months after getting the genetic sequence of the virus – proving that such fast delivery is feasible, Moore said.

Experience with COVID-19 also helped boost production of mRNA to levels that would have seemed unbelievable just a decade ago, Moore said.

"What this taught me is gosh, it's really difficult to work in the cancer field," said Türeci, a long-time cancer researcher

In cancer trials, all five cancer centers in Germany might get only two eligible patients a month, she said

The COVID-19 vaccine is using new technology that has never been used before in traditional vaccines

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