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How personalized cancer vaccines could keep tumours from coming back

The same mRNA technology that quickly brought the world a vaccine for COVID-19 is now showing promise as a bespoke therapy for cancer.
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  1. Elie Dolgin

    1. Elie Dolgin is a science journalist in Somerville, Massachusetts.

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Moderna employees in white lab coats and hair nets work on a machine in a lab focused on cancer vaccine research

Moderna employees build RNA vaccines tailored to an individual’s tumour at a facility in Norwood, Massachusetts. Credit: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg/Getty

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Angela Evatt lay face down under anaesthesia as surgeons removed a malignant mole from her back and a lymph node from her left armpit. The purpose of the operation was not only to excise the cancerous tissue from her body, but also to begin the process of crafting a personalized vaccine that would train Evatt’s immune system to attack any tumour cells left behind.

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Nature 630, 290-292 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01717-x

References

  1. Weber, J. S. et al. Lancet 403, 632–644 (2024).

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  3. Miller, A. M. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 16, eabj9905 (2024).

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