The German pharmaceutical company BioNTech is behind the development of the vaccine.
Photo: Shutterstock.
67-year-old Briton Janusz Ratz became the first person to receive a revolutionary vaccine against lung cancer. This news spread around the world and in Russian media. Loud headlines appeared about a complete victory over the “disease of the century” or, at least, a breakthrough in treatment. What is the new way to fight cancer? How effective is it and when will it be available to patients? KP.RU spoke about this with Nikolai Kryuchkov, an expert in drug development, research and registration, immunologist, general director of a contract research company and candidate of medical sciences.
“I’VE BEEN TORTURED BY BREATHNE, IT TURNS OUT: CANCER”
Last year, Janusz Ratz, a 66-year-old Londoner, began complaining of severe difficulty breathing. He was prescribed an inhaler to help him breathe. At the same time, in-depth tests were ordered. One of them, a CT scan of the lungs, showed that the patient had cancer (so-called non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC). Moreover, it is a late stage.
– It was mid-February 2024 when the doctors discovered something in my right lung. They sent me for urgent tests. And then they explained to me: without treatment I have between 4 and 5 months to live,” the patient told reporters.
Surgery at such a late stage is considered inappropriate. Janusz was prescribed chemotherapy and radiation. “Chemotherapy was particularly difficult, I would not want it to happen again,” the patient admitted. But the tumor reacted badly and the cancer did not recede.
And then the 67-year-old patient was offered to participate in clinical trials (CT) of a fundamentally new therapy: an mRNA vaccine against cancer. The development belongs to the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. Phase 1 of human trials has already begun in 34 medical centers in 7 countries.
Janusz Ratz became the first Briton to receive the vaccine. He was initially given six injections at five-minute intervals for half an hour. The drug will then be administered weekly for a month and a half. And then every three weeks for a total of just over a year (54 weeks).
“The first good news has already arrived. The doctors said that my tumor was shrinking faster than expected,” said the patient.
HOW DOES THIS WORK
– mRNA vaccines against cancer are made using the same technology as anti-Covid vaccines. Do you remember that in Europe and the USA there were such vaccines at the height of the pandemic? In this case, a cancer patient is injected with special genetic structures and the body begins to produce certain proteins characteristic of the tumor of this particular person, explains Nikolai Kriuchkov. “These “samples” train the immune system, teach it to recognize and actively attack cancer cells.
One of the main difficulties is determining the regions of the tumor genome (antigens) responsible for the production of those very target proteins, the expert notes. The fact is that they are individual for each person and even for different types of tumor cells within a single cancer focus. “Therefore, to create an mRNA vaccine, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research and so-called tumor marking in a particular patient, to search for marker antigens,” says Kryuchkov. And to create a personal genetic construct. Today these are very expensive procedures. In addition, they require a certain amount of time, and in patients with stages 3-4, every day counts.
But despite these limitations, the new therapy is a promising method and an important contribution to the fight against cancer, the specialist believes.
WHAT IS THE PROFIT?
– Currently, the mRNA vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer is in the 1st stage of clinical trials. That is, only its safety and individual immunological effects are being tested, explains Nikolai Kryuchkov. – And only after that, at the next stage, will the efficacy be fully assessed.
If expectations are confirmed, cancer vaccines can be of great help to oncologists, the expert predicts. “The main benefit can be effective control of metastases and prevention of relapses. And a significant prolongation of the life of patients with cancer in severe stages,” says Kriuchkov. – At the same time, we must understand that tumor cells mutate. And over time, it may be necessary to “calibrate” drugs for the same patient. That is, their “adaptation”, their updating.”
– Nikolay, is it true that mRNA vaccines are much easier to tolerate than the same “chemical” vaccines and, thanks to them, treatment can be less traumatic for patients?
– The new therapy will have certain side effects, like any serious drug. But in general, mRNA vaccines are, of course, easier to tolerate than, for example, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, it is important to understand that these vaccines cannot work on their own. They are one of the elements of treatment, but not the only one. In any case, other methods of immunotherapy are required (in particular, the so-called immune checkpoint inhibitors – to remove the “camouflage” of tumor cells). In addition, you will most likely still need chemotherapy and radiation. But in general, patients should feel relief. Because adding a new effective method allows you to reduce the amount of other drugs, their dosage, the duration of the courses, etc. And most importantly – the chances of successfully fighting the disease and prolonging life increase.
About price and availability
“The cost of a new treatment will initially be several hundred thousand dollars,” says the expert. “But over time, if the efficacy proves to be high, the use of the method will become more widespread. Due to mass production and technological development, the price may drop. And accessibility will increase.”
Russia is among the top five countries in the world with a similar development
Earlier this summer, Komsomolskaya Pravda published an interview with the creator of the Russian cancer vaccine. It is based on the same mRNA technology.
– The effectiveness of our development has been proven against the most aggressive type of skin cancer, melanoma. So far, in mice. We have every reason to believe that the vaccine will also work against melanoma in humans. In addition, we hope that the technology will be suitable for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer. It is likely that in the future the effectiveness against certain types of gastrointestinal cancer will be confirmed. Other perspectives are also possible,” said the director of the Research Institute of Experimental Diagnostics and Tumor Therapy of the National Medical Research Center of Oncology named after NN Blokhin of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Biological Sciences Vyacheslav Kosorukov to KP.RU.
Russian researchers will need about two more years to complete preclinical tests on animals. And then they will begin clinical trials on humans. “The work can be accelerated by artificial intelligence, which we plan to use in the project,” said Vyacheslav Kosorukov. At the same time, our country is one of five countries in the world where research and testing of anti-cancer vaccines is currently being conducted.
READ ALSO
“Our goal is to give cancer patients lifelong immunity against cancer”: Russian cancer vaccine developer explains how it works
Cancer vaccine author Kosorukov: Let’s start with the treatment of melanoma, lung and kidney cancer (more details)
