This is the decade vaccine. Those mRNAs have been studied for a long time, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the process to accelerate, with great results. Now, as if that wasn’t enough, recent events are changing cancer vaccines in a variant that could designate before and after in the fight against this terrible disease.
In 2022 the team Icahn School of Medicine scientistsfrom New York, analyzed the rapid development of cancer vaccines and concluded that they are already “ready for ultimate success.”
Less than a year later, Moderna set a launch date for its vaccine, based, of course, on mRNA. According to these scientists, it will be ready by 2030. In a word, the news that comes to us with droppers about anti-cancer vaccines, and everything seems to be fine. But what is the truth in all this, and what is exaggerated optimism?
Immunotherapy: a box of cancer vaccines
Since we are all used to the typical childhood vaccinations, avoid certain infectious diseaseswe tend to think that they are only preventive. However, there is also therapeutic vaccines. They have been studied in the field of diseases caused by microorganisms, and especially in cancer.
In fact, cancer vaccines are part of the so-called immunotherapywhich have already given very good results with some types of tumors.
These therapies are based on the fact that the immune system is not only attacking external foreign agents such as microorganisms. He also faces it.body’s own cellsthat have begun to divide uncontrollably and may eventually give rise to tumors.
If this mechanism worked always, there would be no cancer. But, unfortunately, sometimes the tumor slips away. defenses of our body.
CAR-T therapy
When the immune system detects a cell that is dividing uncontrollably, it sends out a type of cell called T-lymphocytes. They are able to specifically bind to certain tumor proteins (antigens), like a key that fits a lock. Once they do that, they can start tumor destructionbut they also act as markers for other much more voracious cells such as macrophagesknow where to attack.
This is all very effective, but there is a problem, because in some tumors there are no proteins that T-lymphocytes can specifically bind to, that is, there is no key to the lock.
This is where CAR-T therapy comes into play, which consists of extracting their T-lymphocytes from the patients’ blood and genetically modifying them so that they can recognize the tumor. Figuratively speaking, they are given the key needed to fight cancer.
This type of therapy is still in its infancy but has already been tested in people with very severe illnesses. good resultseven leading to complete remission of the cancer. In general, it is useless for solid tumors, but some mechanisms have already been laid for it to work with them as well.
Cancer vaccines: what are they?
Cancer vaccines work in the same way as typical cancer vaccines known to us. infectious diseases. The immune system is trained to attack the tumor by placing some of its components on the tray.
This can be done in many ways. One of the most common is dendritic cell training. These are cells that take in antigens, process them, and expose them to attract T-lymphocytes. For this reason, many vaccines rely on extracting dendritic cells from patients’ blood, exposing them to tumor cells in the laboratory to improve their ability to recognize, and then returning them to the body . Thus, it is those dendritic cells that will quickly recruit T-lymphocytes with the right key to attack the tumor.
This procedure has been greatly improved with the advent of mRNA technology. Messenger RNA is a molecule that carries instructions for the cellular machinery to produce a specific protein. For example, COVID-19 vaccines introduce instructions to synthesize some of the virus’s antigens so that the immune system is ready to attack it when actual infection occurs.
On the other hand, in the case of cancer vaccines, dendritic cells are instructed to produce the vaccine directly. tumor antigens. Thus, there is no need to extract and train them. They are prepared directly and attract T-lymphocytes faster.
big steps
Putting a date, as Moderna did, is pretty bold. In addition, many media outlets have presented this news as a near definitive cure for cancer. This is something that should be considered with caution. Currently, cancer vaccines more effective against some tumors than others and, in addition, in some cases limited effectiveness. It is for this reason that its administration is considered together with drugsto enhance its effect.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that many of the studies that have been conducted have only been done in mice. Although some of them have already been launched with People. In fact, positive results from a clinical trial for a pancreatic cancer vaccine, one of the deadliest in existence, were recently announced.
With all this, there are reasons for joy and optimism, but not forgetting that science is in no hurry and that cancer vaccines are no exception. This is a weapon that is very likely to help win many battles. Given what’s left to end the war, let’s stick with it and continue to trust the science.
Source: Hiper Textual
