Cancer treatment is one of the main tasks of modern science. Many types of oncological diseases are already well treatable. For example, breast cancer is successfully treated due to the fact that it is often found at an early stage, during mammography. Also, a good prognosis is given to patients with cervical cancer, which is also detected in a timely manner and, thanks to this, is better treated. Unfortunately, lung cancer treatmentis difficult for doctors, and even after successful completion of the procedures, people often experience remission. But people with a terrible diagnosis have hope, because the German company BioNTech has launched a clinical test of the BNT116 vaccine. It is believed that in the future, thanks to it, we will be completely protected from the terrible disease.
The most terrible type of cancer may be defeated in the future
Lung cancer vaccine
Cancer vaccine trialslungs is currently being tested in 34 research centers located in seven countries around the world. The centers in the UK are the ones that participate the most in testing — that's where the first shot was given. After the first patient, 130 people with lung cancer of varying severity are waiting their turn. Their treatment includes not only receiving the vaccine, but also undergoing immunotherapy.
The developer of the lung cancer vaccine is BioNTech. Image: curetoday.com
The first person to receive the lung cancer vaccine was 67-year-old Janusz Racz. He was diagnosed with the terrible disease in May 2024, and has so far been treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. According to the patient, he understands that participating in such trials helps scientific progress move forward faster. He noted that the faster new cancer treatment technologywill be spread throughout the world, the more people will be saved.
Cancer vaccine could save billions of lives. Image: independent.co.uk
BNT116 vaccineis not given just once. The UK test subject was given six consecutive injections, spaced five minutes apart. He will then have to keep getting injections for six weeks. Then there will be a period when he will have consecutive injections every three weeks. Of course, this is all assuming that the lung cancer vaccine is safe and does not cause side effects.
Everyone should know: What is a vaccine?
How does a vaccine cure cancer
The need for so many injections is due to the fact that BNT116 is an mRNA vaccine. It is intended for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is considered the most common form of the disease.
Every vaccinated person's body will kill cancer on its own. Image: biosciencetoday.co.uk
How the lung cancer vaccine workscan be explained in simple terms. Each injection contains information that teaches the body's immune system to find cancer cells. After receiving all the instructions, the immune system begins to independently find cancer cells and immediately kill them. At the same time, the body's defense system does not touch healthy human cells.
We are now entering a very exciting era of clinical trials of mRNA-based immunotherapy for lung cancer. We hope that the new treatment will prevent recurrence of cancer, because in patients with lung cancer, even after surgery and radiation, it often comes back, – emphasized consultant oncologist Siou Ming Li.
What diseases are there vaccines for
It is important to note that cancer vaccines are not only being actively developed in Germany. For example, the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck & Co have already tested a drug against recurrence and death from melanoma – this is the deadliest type of skin cancer.
In 2024, it became known that Russia is making great strides in developing anti-cancer vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs. You can read about how it works in our article “Russian scientists are close to creating a vaccine against cancer.”
There will be more news about cancer vaccines in the future. Image: biopharma-reporter.com
Scientists are approaching the creation of a cancer vaccine gradually, targeting the disease from afar. First, pharmacists managed to create effective vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV). In 2024, there are six licensed vaccines in the world. This is an important achievement because HPV increases the risk of cervical cancer. There are also vaccines against hepatitis B, which increases the risk of liver cancer.
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Any progress in the treatment of lung cancer is great news. This type of cancer is considered the most dangerous because it takes the lives of about 1.8 million people every year. If the disease is diagnosed in time, the likelihood of successful treatment increases many times over. But it is very rare to detect the disease in the early stages of development.