A first vaccine of personalized mRNA against melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, is already in the third and final phase of clinical trials – meaning it will be tested on a large group of participants for a final check of efficacy and safety.
If successful, the product will be ready for the approval process by regulatory bodies such as Anvisa in each country and, subsequently, for sale to the public.
O melanoma consists of the uncontrolled reproduction of melanocytes, which are cells that produce melanin, the pigment that determines skin color. It is a common form of cancer, which can appear anywhere on the body, on the skin or mucous membranes, in the form of spots, moles or other discreet signs.
It is a serious type of skin cancer, as it has a high possibility of spreading and affecting other organs (metastasis). Currently, surgery is the main treatment, although radiotherapy, medications and chemotherapy are sometimes also used. It all depends on the stage.
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The new vaccine, which is tailored to each patient, teaches the body to hunt cancer cells and prevent the disease from returning.
The phase 2 trial had already concluded that the vaccines halved the risk of patients’ melanoma returning. The phase 3 trial was being conducted with hundreds of participants at University College Hospitals in London, UK.
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The vaccine is an individualized therapy, which targets tumor neo-antigens, which are foreign molecules, present only in cancer cells, but not in healthy ones. It was designed to teach the immune system how to fight a patient’s specific tumor, using neo-antigens to detect it.
To personalize the vaccine, doctors take a sample of the tumor during the patient’s surgery and sequence its DNA. The vaccine carries coding for up to 34 neo-antigens and activates an immune response based on the unique mutations in a patient’s cancer.
In short: the vaccine simulates the type of molecule that the tumor produces, to teach your white blood cells to attack it every time it reappears.
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The ultimate goal, of course, is to permanently cure patients of their cancer. Researchers are hopeful that the treatment will be revolutionary in the field of immunotherapy.
