Scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine 2023 Gizmodo Science Fair for their experimental breast cancer vaccine.
question
Can the immune system be trained to target cancers that are at risk of recurrence, or even prevent cancers from forming in the first place?
result
The team’s vaccine should work by training the body to develop a specific type of immune response against the HER2 protein. It targets cancer, but otherwise does no harm to the body.
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In November, researchers It was published Data from a phase I safety trial of the vaccine in 66 women with advanced breast cancer. Although these women had received treatments that put their cancer in complete remission or suppressed it to a large extent, they remained at high risk of aggressive recurrence. Volunteers were followed for a median of approximately 10 years.
In trials, the vaccine showed no indication of serious long-term health risks, and the most common side effects were acute, short-term symptoms such as redness at the injection site and fever. developed the immune response it hoped to generate. However, there were clear indicators of its effectiveness. About 80% of vaccinated women are still alive 10 years after her, well above her 50% five-year survival rate typically seen in similar cancer patients.
why they did it
“We aim to cure cancer one vaccine at a time. is happening. [in recent years]said the project’s principal investigator, Cancer Vaccine Institute at the University of Washington. “I think we are at a tipping point for cancer vaccines.”
Why Their Breast Cancer Vaccine Is A Winner
As Disis points out, recently the so-called immunotherapy— Medicines designed to boost the immune system’s defenses against cancer.For example, there are approved drugs that remove checkpoints that prevent immune cells from targeting some tumors, and treatments that genetically transform T cells into potent cancer killers. there is a cancer vaccine approved, but these have shown only modest efficacy against very specific types of cancer. Vaccines currently in development are expected to be generally more effective and able to treat a wide range of cancers. increase. It also has the potential to target not only tough tumors that are more likely to recur, but also tumors that have yet to emerge. Another promising approach is to use these vaccines in combination with other immunotherapies.
The HER2 vaccine developed by Disis and her colleagues is not the only one being studied at the UW Cancer Vaccines Institute, but it is the most advanced in clinical trials. And in many ways, especially her Disis is the culmination of her 30 years of work.
“I think the early challenge many years ago was that people didn’t think the immune system had any role in eradicating cancer,” she said. The challenge is not to create a vaccine or manufacture a vaccine, but to find patients to enroll in clinical trials.”
research is found Less than 5% of cancer patients in general enroll in clinical trials, not just those who try new vaccines.
“One of the other areas we are working on is trying to increase the diversity of patients represented in our clinical trials. Research Institute.
what’s next
team is have already done A phase II trial of the HER2 vaccine and two other breast cancer candidates. They have also developed experimental vaccines against ovarian, colon, lung, bladder, and prostate cancers.
More broadly in the field, Disis predicts that a therapeutic cancer vaccine will be available to the public within the next five years.
team
“Oh, we’re talking about hundreds,” said Disis when asked how many people it took to get this vaccine off the ground. But in the group I’m in, there are about 40 people working late into the night, and each of us has a unique role to play in vaccine development. We don’t have one leader telling everyone what to do.”
“Another feature of our lab, which is a little different than other academic labs, is that we do discovery work, translation work, and clinical trials under one roof,” says Dhillon. increase. “So we’re not waiting for collaborators to catch up in the next phase of the project. We’re all here at the table.”
See the full list of Gizmodo Science Fair winners
