Promising advances in vaccines could be future in cancer treatment

- Deep learning algorithms are used to make patient-specific vaccines to determine the best antigens to combat cancer cells, Perrakis adds

- Vaccines may enter clinical practice in as soon as 5 years if trials results allow, and in 10 years for mass use, according to oncologist Meletios-Thanos Dimopoulos

ATHENS

Major strides in medicine and artificial intelligence in recent years may have brought humanity significantly closer to overcoming cancer.

Remarkable progress has been made in cancer research over the last 10 years, with work accelerating on new therapeutic vaccines that have shown promise against the dreaded disease that causes millions of deaths annually and affects tens of millions across the world.

One major advantage of the vaccines, based on mRNA technology that was also used against the coronavirus during the pandemic, is that they are custom-made for every individual patient.

“A real promise that the mRNA-based cancer vaccines give us is that they're individualized,” said Anastasis Perrakis, a structural biologist biochemist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI).

Speaking to Anadolu, Perrakis, said this type of vaccine, building on significant advancement in immunotherapy, operates by boosting the patient’s immune system to detect and fight cancer cells where they are found in the body.

Perrakis explained that it became possible to make person-specific vaccines with the help of the expanding capabilities of AI.

“Recent years witnessed remarkable achievements in cancer treatment, including targeted chemotherapy, cell therapy, and immunotherapy. Now, and with the help of the artificial intelligence, even more efficient drugs and therapies will be produced,” he said.

Deep learning algorithms are already in use to decide which are the best unique antigens of every individual to fight cancer, he added.

Safety and accessibility

Despite the rising hopes, reservations still remain among some on the safety and accessibility to the vaccines.

On allegations that have surfaced about mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines that they can change a recipient’s DNA, Perrakis said there was no scientific proof supporting such claims.

“I cannot see how anyone could justify an allegation that mRNA vaccines are changing anything in the genetic material of human beings,” he said.

But affordability and accessibility may prove issues that require action, according to the scientist, who underlined the need for cooperation among different stakeholders to keep supply sufficient and prices at manageable levels.

He pointed out that huge sums have been spent on their development by pharmaceutical companies, which are inherently responsible towards their shareholders.

But when it is human life that is at stake, the pharmaceutical sector does not have to be the most profitable, he remarked, adding that politicians, national health executives, and companies together can come up with a solution that would render vaccines accessible for all in need. The responsibility of pharmaceuticals to their shareholders and the economy needs to be balanced with responsible statecraft towards citizens and society, he said.

Meletios-Thanos Dimopoulos, a senior oncologist at Athens University’s Medical School, asserted that the vaccine fundamentally differs from other kinds of immunotherapy, which involves antibodies enhancing the immune system's ability to eradicate cancer.

“While their efficacy is limited by the inherent immunosuppressive and immune-resistance mechanisms of cancer, the vaccines attempt to bypass these barriers by exposing our immune system to tumor-specific antigens and selectively induce immune response against cancer,” he explained.

Potency

“Current technology has enabled mRNA-based vaccines to recognize most potent tumor-specific antigens, antigens specific for each patient’s cancer, as well as to improve induced immune responses,” said Dimopoulos, who served as Greece's caretaker minister of health in 2015.

On the range of cancer types that the vaccines will work against, he said those currently under clinical development have shown efficacy on various forms of the disease.

“Up to now, early phase clinical trials have shown potent immune responses with mRNA vaccines in pancreatic, colorectal, lung, bladder, head, and neck cancer, and melanoma,” he said, adding:

“Further accumulation of clinical data regarding the efficacy of personalized vaccines will most possibly enable their use in several types of cancer in the near future.”

Important to note, he said, is that apart from preventive vaccines against cervical cancer, vaccines currently under development have been designed for use in patients already diagnosed with cancer.

“Clinical data, though, support their use in early-stage carcinomas that have been completely resected surgically. In such cases, therapeutic vaccines either as monotherapy or in combination with other immunotherapeutic approaches seem very potent in preventing cancer recurrence,” Dimopoulos noted.

The vaccines can enter clinical practice as soon as five years from now if trials yield positive results, he said, though for mass use, a period of 10 years is more likely.

On affordability, Dimopoulos said, “Recent experience of vaccines against COVID-19 has proven that mRNA vaccines may be produced in a relatively low cost and a timely manner.

“Therefore, we remain quite optimistic that cancer vaccines will be affordable for universal health systems.”