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The statement from one of BioNTech’s founders is quite cautious, with mRNA cancer vaccines still at an early stage.
A number of media outlets have recently publicised BioNTech’s work on cancer vaccines. With coverage ranging from rational to miracle cure, we simply wanted to offer an overview.
mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) is genetic material which carries instructions to make a protein. During the Covid-19 pandemic, improved understanding of mRNA helped to create efficient vaccines.
Standard vaccines use a weak form of a disease to trigger an immune response. mRNA vaccines teach your body how to create a specific protein.
The message carried for Covid-19 was to create a protein found in the virus. Your immune system then produces antibodies, learning to fight the Covid-19 virus in case you are infected at a later time.
In cancer treatment, the vaccine produces protein markers found only in the cancer and not in healthy tissue. This in effect reveals the cancer to your immune system, which targets and destroys the tumour.
The vaccines need to be personalised to each patient’s tumour to be effective but are a safe approach. They do not expose you to disease or alter your natural DNA and they present a clear opportunity.
Trials On Advanced Melanoma
Trying forms of mRNA vaccine on metastatic (spreading in the body) melanoma is not new. Trials dating back a decade or more exist, although they used a different approach to the current vaccines.
A more recent study in Australia tried combining a personalised mRNA vaccine with an immunotherapy drug, bringing some success. Early trials on the mRNA vaccine alone are also showing progress.
There is a plan to try personalised vaccine treatment, supported by BioNTech, on 10,000 UK patients before 2030, as long as the NHS are able to support the trial.
The results should be informative although the trial is not for melanoma alone, a range of cancers will be covered. Part of a learning process, medical trials look at safety, effectiveness and ways to move forward.
Looking To The Future
mRNA vaccines are an exciting development, which could become a successful treatment for cancer. Skin cancers, including melanoma, normally have distinct proteins which can be targeted for replication.
We are however at a stage where more research and testing is needed. The development and scaling up of mRNA technology is quicker than other approaches but the vaccines becoming open treatment will take years.
Time worth spending if cancers can be stopped from spreading, or prevented from coming back. We should still remember that the treatment is currently focused on developed tumours, which can be avoided.
Taking Prompt Action
Almost all cancers benefit from early treatment and have warning signs, although skin cancers hold an advantage. They develop on an area of our body we can see, without needing to use investigative imaging.
Better treatment for later stage disease is important but acting swiftly when you see an issue can avoid this altogether. Successful early stage melanoma treatment can simply be day surgery, under local anaesthetic.
We applaud the research and who knows where this will go. Perhaps one day we will have vaccines which stop cancer being part of our lives but that is many years away. For now, we need to protect ourselves.
Whether blood in bodily fluids, unexpected pain, or a skin lesion we don’t like the look of, most of us have a chance to see signs requiring us to act. The key is to be positive and find specialist support.