Could a cancer vaccine be a reality? The answer is yes. Moderna and Pfizer are developing the cancer vaccine, using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, the same one used to create the covid-19 vaccine.
In the case of Moderna, the US drugmaker is using mRNA technology to develop a cancer vaccine, in partnership with Merck Laboratories. Clinical trials are currently underway and the first results are expected by the end of 2022.
The vaccine in question is a ‘personalized cancer vaccine’. Your name? mRNA-4157/V940. It is designed to stimulate an immune response by generating T cell responses based on the mutational signature of a patient’s tumor.
– Modern, through a statement
How do mRNA vaccines work?
RNA, or ribonucleic acid, converts genetic information from DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) into proteins. While DNA is a more stable double-stranded molecule, RNA most often occurs in nature as a single strand, making it easily degradable.
Since the health crisis, everyone knows mRNA. And for good reason, since it was used in the manufacture of the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna anticovid-19 vaccines. This technology is based on “letting our own cells manufacture the component against which our body will learn to defend itself”.
According to information from abcnewsIn the case of Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company will have the support of professors Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, creators of the Pfizer-BioNtech covid-19 vaccine, for the use of mRNA technology in the development of a cancer vaccine. .
In 2008, Şahin and Türeci, husband and wife, founded BioNtech to develop and produce individualized cancer immunotherapy treatments using mRNA technology. But when the pandemic hit, they adapted this technology to create one of the first and most effective vaccines against covid-19.
In an interview with the British broadcaster BBC, Şahin and Türeci said that they have several studies underway, including one in which patients receive a personalized vaccine to induce their immune systems to attack their disease.
Furthermore, they hope that the methodology used during the pandemic could lead to new treatments for melanoma, colon cancer and other types of cancer.
As scientists, we always hesitate to say that we will have a cure for cancer. We have a number of advances and we will continue to work on them.
However, it could be several years before we know if BioNTech’s cure for some types of cancer actually lives up to expectations, but if all goes according to plan, Şahin and Türeci estimate that this cancer vaccine could see the light “before 2030”.
Meanwhile, a major legal battle over mRNA vaccines is underway, as US pharmaceutical company Moderna sued Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement, claiming that key elements of its mRNA technology were copied.
In response, Uğur Şahin, CEO of German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, says the company will defend itself against the accusations.
Our innovations are original and we have dedicated 20 years of research to the development of this type of treatment and, of course, we will fight for that, for our property.