Cancer vaccine similar to coronavirus vaccine produces 'promising' results

Cancer vaccine similar to coronavirus vaccine produces 'promising' results

The vaccine was given to eight patients with head and neck cancer at Public Health England's Clatterbridge Cancer Center after receiving standard treatment. There was no recurrence after months in any of the patients.

However, the cancer returned in two patients in the control group who did not receive the vaccine.

Professor Christian Ottensmeier, a consultant medical oncologist and director of clinical research at the centre, told Sky News that he is "cautiously optimistic" about the findings.

The needle, codenamed TG4050, was made by a French company called Transgene, which uses similar technology to AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covid vaccine.

SPECIAL VACCINE FOR EVERY PATIENT

The vaccine is specially prepared for each patient whose tumors have DNA.

Once injected, the body is instructed to make the same proteins found on the surface of tumors and trigger an immune response.

In theory, any cancer cells that exhibit the same surface proteins that remain in the bloodstream after surgery are then destroyed by the T cells, preventing the cancer from attaching.

Thirty patients are participating in the trial for head and neck cancer. Half will receive the vaccine as soon as they finish conventional treatment, while the other half will only receive it when they relapse.

There are more than 30 areas of the head and neck where cancer can develop, including the mouth and throat. In this type of cancer patients, the chance of their tumors returning is high.