The results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, follow earlier promising data from the trial showing the customized mRNA vaccine given in combination with Merck's Keytruda cut the risk of death or recurrence of melanoma by 44% compared with Keytruda, alone.rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic
The hope is for "a completely new treatment paradigm in cancer that will be better tolerated and unique to individual patients' tumors," said Dr. Jane Healy, an executive overseeing in early cancer treatment development at Merck. During this process, patients typically receive an immunotherapy such as Keytruda or Roche's Tecentriq, which block a mechanism cancer uses to hide from the immune system., companies had been eyeing messenger RNA technology, which carries instructions for cells to make specific proteins, as a vehicle for delivering a cancer vaccine.
Balachandran's team studied the rare long-term survivors and found an immune system component called T cells in these individuals were able to recognize mutations derived from the cancer, raising the possibility of a targeted vaccine. The approach first primes the immune system with an older technology called a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine that targets patients' tumors. That is followed by a personalized self-amplifying mRNA vaccine, which includes an enzyme that makes extra copies of the antigens, reducing the required dose.
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