January 5, 2023 – Researchers are working on an experimental cancer vaccine that turns cancer against cancer.
“Our team had a simple idea: to take cancer cells and turn them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said Dr. Khalid Shah, who leads the team at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, in a press release to Gizmodo.
“Their experimental vaccine candidate uses tumor cells modified to deliver a toxic payload to the rest of the cancer while making it easier for the immune system to attack and remember the cancer in the future,” Gizmodo wrote.
The first leads to the fight against brain tumors in mice were promising.
The study was published this week within the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Most cancer vaccines typically treat existing cancers or prevent them from recurring, Gizmodo wrote.
But in the brand new research, scientists are keeping the cancer cells alive and modifying them to provide drugs that kill tumors and make other proteins that help the body develop immunity to the cancer.
“We are developing the next generation of autologous and allogeneic vaccines based on engineered tumor cells and are confident that our therapeutic strategy has the potential to deliver impact in patients by preventing tumor growth, recurrence and metastasis,” Shah said.
The scientists hope that their findings, although only a starting, could lead on to the treatment and prevention of many tumors throughout the body. Clinical trials of their vaccine could begin in three to 5 years. Other vaccines are currently being developed, including some much like the COVID-19 vaccines.