Is it possible that humanity will one day win its long battle against cancer? This dream is no longer impossible, especially after talking about “an expected vaccine that will be put on the market within a few years to combat cancer.”
The discovery of the vaccine caused an uproar in the scientific community, and oncologists described it as a “scientific precedent” that offered a glimmer of hope for millions of people infected with the malignant disease around the world.
The vaccine, which has been tested so far as a treatment for skin cancer, was developed by the “Moderna” company in cooperation with the American “Pfizer” company and the German “BioNTech”, and it uses the same mRNA technology that was relied upon to produce a vaccine against the emerging corona virus.
The results of the preliminary trial, which were released last December, indicated that this vaccine reduces the risk of skin cancer returning after surgery by almost half.
This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called the vaccine a “miraculous treatment” for the prevention of skin cancer, which means that it can be approved within months, and this will allow the final-stage trial to be accelerated, bringing the vaccine one step closer to reality, according to the newspaper. British “The Times”.
This step occurs when experimental treatments show indications that they are significantly more effective than existing drugs.
Cancer is “one of the leading causes of death in the world,” and it claimed nearly 10 million lives in 2020, or roughly one in every 6 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
In 2021, an estimated 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer, while 10 million people died from it, according to “WHO Data 2021”.
How does the vaccine work?
The vaccine is based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which is a molecule that transmits the genetic code from DNA into the cell to produce proteins, according to Reuters.
Conventional vaccines are based on the principle of inactivated viruses. These vaccines train the body to recognize “antigens”, which are proteins produced by the virus, and this would activate the immune system’s response when it actually encounters the virus.
As for the “messenger” RNA vaccines, they transmit genetic instructions for the production of these antigens directly into the cells, and the human body turns into a headquarters for the production of vaccines.
What are the results of the experiments so far?
It is noteworthy that the results of the experiments on the “Pfizer” and “Moderna” vaccines far exceeded expectations, as the minimum effectiveness required by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is 50 percent, while the two vaccines proved effective, reaching more than 90 percent. , according to “Reuters”.
The chief medical officer and co-founder of the German company “BioNTech”, Ozlem Torsi, said in statements to the German newspaper “Der Spiegel”, reported by “Reuters”, on February 19, that the same approach can be followed to prepare the immune system to search for and destroy cancer cells.
The company was conducting research on cancer vaccines using “messenger RNA” technology before the pandemic. But the company focused on producing vaccines against Covid in the face of the global emergency.
The company now has several cancer vaccines in clinical trials. In her previous statements, Tursi said that the development and success of the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine “restores our work in the field of cancer.”
When will the vaccine be on the market?
The co-founder of the German company “BioNTech”, Ugur Shaheen, expected that trials of a cancer vaccine would begin this year in Britain, according to “Reuters”.
The prominent scientist, who co-founded the company with his wife, Torcy, said the company is currently studying the types of cancer that will be tested and the sites where the trials will be conducted.
The couple, Shaheen and Tursi, co-founded the German biotechnology company BioNTech, which allied with the American Pfizer to produce a vaccine against Covid-19, which is so far considered one of the most successful vaccines against the disease.
And “Reuters” stated that the progress in the search for a cancer vaccine after the trial of the “Covid” vaccine represents “an important step towards the potential sale of the vaccine on the open market.”
“We believe that this (production of a cancer vaccine) should be possible for a large number of patients before 2030,” Shaheen added.
He said the technology for this type of treatment has come a long way, adding: “In 2014, we needed 3-6 months to create an individual cancer vaccine, now we need 4-6 weeks. Our goal is to get it significantly done in less than 4 weeks.” weeks”.
Last October, the couple talked about the possibility of making a “cancer vaccine available before 2030”.
Is the vaccine suitable for all cancerous tumors?
Doctors specializing in cancer diseases, with whom the British newspaper “Financial Times” spoke, indicate that the vaccine can be used against all types of cancer that are surgically intervened, especially some tumors that cannot be operated for eradication through surgery, such as leukemia.
The new vaccines are tailored to target the tumor in each individual, Julie Bowman, director of the Cancer Center at George Washington University, explained: “Tumor tissue is obtained and sequenced, and then over a period of six weeks a vaccine that matches the best 10 to 20 mutations is made.”
Bowman added that the vaccine stimulates a person’s immune system to selectively target these cancer cells. Therefore, the vaccine will be suitable for combating all cancerous tumors, except for those related to leukemia.
In the event that it is not possible to remove the tumor and the inability to intervene surgically, a vaccine may be developed in the future, a sample of cancer tissue is taken and treated with mRNA technology, then the treated substance is re-injected into the same patient to attack the remnants of the tumor itself and any cancer cells in other areas of the human body.