For decades, scientists have been trying to harness the power of the immune system to fight cancer. They have been looking for new ways to avoid the defenses tumors use to thwart them. Health experts have even studied vaccines that offer a preventative and therapeutic approach to cancer. However, it might still be a long way from approval.
Through many years of hard work, they are optimistic that they are now a step closer to creating cancer vaccines that will tell the immune system to distinguish healthy cells from cancer cells and attack the latter before they even spread. Scientists are also assembling immunotherapy drugs that will boost such vaccine's efficacy.
Cancer Vaccine: Early Research Hints on the Possibility of Preventative, Therapeutic Treatments for Cancerous Tumors
Identifying Cancer Cells From Healthy Cells
Cancer cells arise from healthy, normal cells, which is why they resemble them. Jay Berzofsky, chief of the National Cancer Institute's vaccine branch, told The Washington Post that cancer cells hide their differences, so the immune system often tolerates them.
So, scientists have been studying the cancer vaccine that will activate the immune system to identify the differences between cancer cells to healthy, normal cells, and recognize them as foreign so they can reject them.
Understanding how therapeutic cancer vaccines could be different from other preventive therapeutics and immunotherapy drugs is important to differentiate them from traditional vaccines against influenza or any diseases.
Currently, two vaccines are approved to prevent infections that raise the risk of developing cancer. These infections include the human papillomavirus, which may cause cervical and vaginal cancer, anal cancer, penile cancer, and the hepatitis B virus, which causes liver cancer.
The vaccines currently under development are for people with premalignant cancer lesions, like colon polyps, hoping to prevent them from becoming cancerous tumors.
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Potential Cancer Vaccines Under Investigation
According to an article in Becker's Hospital Review, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh are investigating a potential vaccine inspired by the previous work of immunology professor Olivera Finn, Ph.D., and colleagues.
The team discovered the tumor-specific antigen known as MUC1, which exists in many types of cancer, such as breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, and prostate. The MUC1-based vaccine showed a strong response from the immune system in clinical trials with premalignant colon polyps.
Another vaccine scientists are looking into is the vaccines personalized for a specific patient, called neoantigens, that produce positive results in small, preliminary traits. A 2018 study published in the journal Nature, showed that four out of six cancer patients were in remission a little over two years after receiving the personalized vaccine.
Dr. Berzofsky said that neoantigen vaccines could produce a strong immune response because they are specifically designed for the individual tumor. More so, advances in mRNA technology mean that neoantigen vaccines can be made rapidly.
Last on the list of potential cancer vaccines is a six-dose vaccine with HER2 antibodies for breast cancer patients. Keith Knutson, Ph.D., a cancer vaccine researcher, developed the treatment. He told The Washington Post that after testing for its effectiveness and safety, the drug could be revolutionary.
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