Breakthrough Cancer Vaccine In The Works At University of Florida

Scientists at the University of Florida in Gainesville are developing a universal cancer vaccine designed to target cancer cells already forming in the body. The vaccine could be especially effective against some of the deadliest cancers, including pancreatic and ovarian cancer.

The problem in the past has been that because cancers tend to be specific to each person, a cancer vaccine would have to be tailored for that specific individual rather than a one-size-fits-all vaccine, and in the time spent to create a personal vaccine, the cancer could mutate.

“It can be months from the time you get a patient’s specimen to when they actually have a personalized therapy,” study senior author and pediatric oncologist Dr. Elias Sayour said, as Live Science reports. “The idea that something could be available immediately, albeit in a nonspecific way … could be revolutionary for how we bridge therapy and how we manage patients.”

The experimental vaccine was discussed in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering; the abstract stated, “Our findings show that the resistance of tumors to immunotherapy is dictated by the absence of a damage response, which can be restored by boosting early type-I interferon responses to enable epitope spreading and self-amplifying responses in treatment-refractory tumors.”

The experimental vaccine is built on mRNA that triggers cells to produce new proteins, and hopes to strengthen the body to create more type-I interferons, which can locate cancerous tumors.

Sayour explained that cancer can impede interferon signals and block anti-cancer immune responses, so the experimental vaccine could catalyze an immune “reset.”

“I personally think this can be used for all forms of cancer,” Sayour stated. “I believe this is a universal paradigm that can be used to treat cancer,” adding that the vaccine could stop a relapse of the cancer after remission.

“This exciting and novel paper shows promising evidence that giving the immune system a short, targeted boost at just the right time can help previously unresponsive tumors respond to immunotherapy,” Diana Azzam, from the Center for Advancing Personalized Cancer Treatments at Florida International University, said. “This approach could be especially helpful for ‘cold’ tumors — types of cancer that usually don’t trigger a strong immune response, like pancreatic, ovarian, and some types of breast cancer.”

“Sayour and his colleagues have launched a human trial testing a two-hit approach: an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine followed by a personalized one,” Live Science noted. “This approach saves valuable time needed for personalized vaccinations and may induce rapid immunity that can be further seized upon by personalized therapy,” Sayour asserted.