Humanity is one step closer to a cancer vaccine

One of the great dreams of mankind was to find a cancer vaccine, which according to the published news, we are now one step away from making it. In this article, we examine the details of this news.

Cancer vaccine is one of the things that mankind has always sought to achieve in order to find a permanent way to deal with this scary disease. In this way, we have sometimes achieved some successes, but the life of these successes was not very long and we heard the news of failure shortly after the news of success. But now we have read in the medical news that maybe we are really one step closer to making this vaccine. Stay with us to check more details of the news.

What is cancer?

In fact, our body has the possibility of getting involved with cancer at any moment; But what is this cancer and how should the body deal with it?

Our cells replicate for different activities, and if this cell division and production is too much needed in an area of ​​the body, it becomes a cancerous mass; Because the type of this mass is of the body’s own cells, as a result, the immune system cannot recognize it as the cause of the disease and try to eliminate it. In fact, cancer cells are separated from the normal mechanisms of cell division and growth. The exact cause of this phenomenon is still unclear; But it is possible that genetic factors or things that disrupt the activity of cells may cause abnormality in the cell nucleus. The tumor that occurs as a result of this abnormal growth causes dysfunction in that area and spreads to other parts as well. In healthy people, the immune system normally kills cancer cells before they turn into tumors.

What is the new technology to help make a cancer vaccine?

It may be true that most prominent people in the world consider artificial intelligence to be the cause of the destruction of mankind; But for now, this technology is going to help the human race. In fact, by giving some information to artificial intelligence, it is possible to measure the probability of whether this mass will turn into a cancerous tumor or not. In fact, by examining the activity of the cells of a mass, artificial intelligence realizes the possibility of turning into a tumor based on the activities that lead to the tumor. Therefore, preventive measures can be taken before the tumor becomes malignant.

How far has the development of a cancer vaccine progressed?

Since 2017, two of the world’s super pharmaceutical manufacturers, Moderna and Merck, have started a new project on cancer vaccines in collaboration with several prestigious universities of medical sciences in the world. Their goal is to develop personalized vaccines that target solid tumors.

In making personalized vaccines, they use artificial intelligence to sequence the DNA of each person’s healthy and cancerous cells and, by comparing the sequences, identify mutations that can become cancerous. In fact, every moment of our body there are mutations that if the immune system does not destroy them, they will turn into cancerous masses. Accordingly, the artificial intelligence identifies 34 mutations that, if they occur, cause the immune system to respond. Academic researchers have given the diagnostic algorithms of cancer mutations to artificial intelligence.

The two pharmaceutical giants are developing RNA vaccines that cause the body to make large numbers of immune cells whose job it is to find and destroy cells that express any of 34 immune proteins.

What is RNA vaccine?

These types of vaccines, because they are RNA, will cause the production of proteins after entering the cell. These proteins are related to a virus or tumor, which intend to attract the attention of the immune system by producing a lot of protein. The immune system, by producing immune cells, causes these cells to attack the tumor or virus and destroy it.

What is the modern approach to cancer treatment?

According to Stephen Bunsel, the CEO of Moderna, it is their deep belief that if the conditions are right, the immune system alone can destroy the tumor; Because it does this every moment in healthy people. In fact, they have reached a modern approach that the main cause of cancer is not in one or several organs, but in our DNA and the mutations that occur. In fact, more effective and useful than organ therapy in cancer treatment is gene therapy, which can be done more easily today with the advent of technologies such as Crisper technology. The traditional approach is actually the same beliefs that people have about cancer, which have been disproved today. According to these beliefs, cancer occurs in a part of the body and the treatment is to focus on that part of the body.

What are the results of the new cancer treatment approach?

According to reports published by Moderna and Merck, 68% of patients with melanoma, which is one of the most common skin diseases, responded positively in stage 3 and 4. It means that their body has been able to identify these cells as foreign agents. Unfortunately, in the rest of the tests, i.e. in 32% of the rest, no answer was received.

“We still don’t know why the vaccine works for some people and not for others,” says Stephen Bansel, CEO of Moderna. There’s a lot we still don’t know about the immune system, but I’m quite optimistic.

What other activities are being done in the field of cancer vaccine development?

In addition to the collaboration of Moderna and Merck in this regard, large companies such as Gentech and Biovantech are also collaborating in the field of vaccine development. Their vaccine is actually an activator of T immune cells (T lymphocytes), which is one of the most powerful immune cells in the body. Also, this vaccine has obtained good grades in terms of performance. Last month, the second phase of the clinical trial of this vaccine began with the enrollment of people from different parts of the world.

It is hoped that in the coming years, we will see 100% success of cancer vaccines so that we can better deal with this scary disease.