2023-05-09 02:08:08
Oxford University researcher Jonathan Kwok is one of the scientists seeking to obtain a therapeutic vaccine against cancer. “We have to make the treatments cheaper,” he affirms.
If something good had the pandemic, was the impetus for the investigation that led to it. The stimulus made it possible to have, in record time, effective and safe vaccines that changed the course of the disease. And that technology can now be used to fight other diseases, such as cancer. So proclaims Jonathan Kwoka researcher at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and one of the scientists who are trying to make vaccines that stop different types of tumors a reality for patients as soon as possible.
“In English we have a saying: “Every cloud has a silver lining”, which refers to the fact that behind each cloud is sunlight. He Covid It has been a terrible cloud, really horrible, but there is a ray of light. These new technologies that were developed because of a terrible infectious disease can now be redirected to cancer. There are different strategies underway, so we are at a really exciting time,” says the researcher, who participated this week in the conference Drug Discovery and enterpreneurship session organized by the CRIS Foundation against cancer as CEO of Infititopes, a spin-out from the University of Oxford created precisely to promote the development of a therapeutic vaccine against cancer.
“Just five years ago, none of this would have been possible”recalls the researcher. “At Oxford, as in other institutions, with the outbreak of the pandemic we learned very, very quickly how to direct, design and develop vaccines against Covid; how to also quickly and safely carry out trials in patients; and how to work with regulatory agencies and manufacturing companies to ensure that these products are properly evaluated and can reach patients as soon as possible. That experience can now be used in other areas, such as cancer. We must take advantage of it ”, the researcher underlines, convinced, after his talk at the CSIC Student Residence, where the event was held.
How long will it take for an effective therapeutic cancer vaccine to be available?
Right now there is a race in which at least 10 companies and academic departments with different approaches and strategies are participating. That there are that many therapeutic approaches is good news for everyone, because, as we have already seen with Covid, there does not have to be a single solution, but multiple ones. Along the way we will see what are the advantages of each of these approaches, what techniques are best and how they can be combined to provide the best care for patients. There are already some options that are in the middle stages of research. And we may well see regulatory agencies grant Breakthrough Therapy designation to these studies for these alternatives, thereby streamlining the evaluation process. For all these reasons, I believe that a cancer vaccine will be available before the end of this decade. I think our own vaccine will arrive before that time frame. It will be very interesting to see which one works best. It’s going to be really exciting to work in this area of research in the coming years.
Although Kwok does not want to give too much information about his approach to keep the development of the therapy a secret, he does slip some of the keys that differentiate his strategy from those of his competitors. “We do three things especially well,” he explains. In the first place, the project, which aims to guide the immune system to locate and effectively combat the tumor enemy, has developed a technological platform that allows the very precise selection of cancer antigens that can be used to elicit an appropriate response. of the patient’s immune system. Furthermore, Kwok continues, the strategy uses a vector that is capable of maintaining this immune response over time.
“Other approaches are very good at providing short-term protection. But that’s not what you need if you have a tumor. For cancer you need long-lasting protection, led by CD8 T cells that maintain the protection without ending up exhausted and stopping the possibility of metastasis”, underlines the researcher.
“Deaths from cancer occur, in between 70% and 90% of cases, due to metastasis. We want to stop these metastases, prevent them from occurring through a sustained response from the immune system that we have verified can be produced through the specific vector that we use in our vaccine”, adds the researcher. “In studies in mouse models we have shown that we can prevent metastases completely”, underline. “We want to achieve the same in people.” As he explains, it is expected that the first stage of clinical trials, the one intended to first check the safety of the strategy, will start in the coming months.
The third point that his team is working on is based on analyzing and trying to establish the ideal time to administer these vaccines. “Many times, after surgery to remove a tumor, it seems that the disease has been completely eliminated. However, small groups of cells can remain capable of traveling to other parts of the body and even a long time later causing metastasis. We believe that this process can be interrupted with a vaccine“. But it is important that this intervention is carried out on time, early, so as not to give any opportunity for the cancer to progress, he emphasizes.
Do you think cancer will be a curable disease one day?
Cancer is devious, cunning. Obviously not consciously, but it is capable of changing, of mutating to escape all kinds of threats. He is constantly looking for ways to escape any control, be it chemotherapy, immunotherapy, vaccines… whatever. I am very confident that we will be able to reduce the risk of metastases, that we will be able to delay and stop them. I think we are in an era where we will see a lot of progress, but can cancer be cured? As an oncologist I would like to answer yes, that cancer, the deaths and the suffering it causes can be prevented, but we still have a way to go.
Today, treatments to combat cancer are very expensive, one of the most expensive for the health system. Will these innovative therapies be available to everyone? Can they afford?
For us, the fact that the treatments are affordable, something that is often overlooked in this sector, is very important. Right now there are therapies that can involve hundreds of thousands of euros per treatment, which means a lot of money for any health system. CAR-T therapies, which require obtaining the patient’s own T lymphocytes, purifying them, selecting them and modifying them specifically so that they can fight cancer and then infuse them back into the patient, involve a technologically complex process that can cost more than 400,000 euros. It is very difficult to assume that. These are very good therapies, especially in hematologic tumors, but we have to find ways to make treatments more affordable. For us that goal is very important. Based on our estimates, we think we could develop a treatment that’s not that much different in price from chemotherapy, which right now, especially since generic alternatives are available, is the cheapest therapy.
Kwok’s professional career is atypical. In addition to working as a researcher at leading universities, such as Oxford, and caring for cancer patients at hospitals such as Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, the scientist also has experience in other health areas, such as pandemic flu, personalized medicine, or even emergency management of cholera epidemics, a field in which he worked in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders. But what is most striking about his resume is that, after graduating, he put medicine on hold for a few years to dedicate himself to investment banking. For a time he was dedicated to analyzing and advising on “then fledgling and now successful biotech, pharmaceutical and health technology companies.” And he was not bad at all. He even won an award for the accuracy of his recommendations.
How does your past in the world of investing help you now?
Above all, it helps me understand how investors think. As scientists our goal is always to do exceptional science, which is great, but it can lead to what we call rabbit holes, that is, to a situation in which the interest in a particular subject leads you not to see further. The objective has to be the patient, to find a solution for the patients. Knowing the investment world helps me, but I also know that there are investors and investors. Of course, everyone wants to make money, it is their goal, but especially in areas such as biotechnology or the environment, many issues have to be taken into account. By knowing the sector you realize with whom you want to build a business.
What does it mean to you, on a personal level, to work in cancer research? Why did you decide to get involved in this field of study?
I have had the opportunity to work as a doctor, seeing patients in a hospital. And that exposes you to very tough situations. One of the hardest conversations I have had in my life, I have it engraved in my memory, was in a consultation, when I had to tell a man in his early thirties, with a son of only five, that his wife, and the boy’s mother, who had metastatic breast cancer, was not coming home. It was terrible. It is those stories that we want to change. The next generation of cancer therapies may be a game changer. If we can stop the advance of the cancer in time, we can prevent the recurrence of the tumors and prevent many people from dying. That is the goal of my team. Cristina G. Lucio.
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