The jab, mRNA-4157 (V940), uses the same technology as current Covid vaccines and is being tested in final-stage Phase III trials.
The world’s first personalized mRNA cancer jab for melanoma is being tested in British patients. The “gamechanger” jab also has the potential to stop bladder, lung and kidney cancer.
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An important trial of the world’s first “personalised” mRNA vaccine against the deadliest form of skin cancer – melanoma – is now under way in the UK.
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The jab, mRNA-4157 (V940), uses the same technology as current Covid vaccines and is being tested in final-stage Phase III trials.
It is created to match the unique genetic signature of the patient’s own tumour and works by instructing the body to make proteins or antibodies that attack markers or antigens found only on those cancer cells.
Steve Young, 52, from Stevenage, Herts, who had a melanoma growth cut out of his scalp last August, is one of the first patients to try the shot.
It is designed to help his immune system recognise and wipe out any remaining cancerous cells. And hopefully, that means the patient’s cancer will not return.
It’s custom built for each person and tells the body to identify cancer cells and stops the disease returning. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is leading the phase.
A stage-two trial found it significantly reduced the risk of cancer coming back in melanoma patients and now a final trial has been launched.
Dr Heather Shaw, co-ordinating investigator of the trial, said it was “one of the most exciting things we’ve seen in a really long time”.
The jab is an individualised neoantigen therapy (INT) and can trigger the immune system to fight the patient’s specific type of cancer.
To create the personalised therapy, a tumour sample is removed and has its DNA sequenced – with artificial intelligence also playing a role.
Dr Shaw said: “This is very much an individualised therapy and it’s far cleverer in some senses than a vaccine. I think there is a real hope that these will be the gamechangers in immunotherapy.”
