The melanoma vaccine saves the lives of half of the sick: between DNA and artificial intelligence, here’s how it works
It is tailor-made for the patient: it halves the risk of death or relapse after three years. Doctors: "Impressive results"
ROME – The first personalized mRNA vaccine against melanoma in the world halves the risk of patient death or recurrence of the disease. These are the results of a study that doctors describe as “extremely impressive”, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.
According to 2020 data from the World Cancer Research Fund International, melanoma affects more than 150,000 people worldwide each year. Patients vaccinated after removal of a stage 3 or 4 melanoma had a 49% lower risk of dying or having the disease return after three years.
One of the study’s lead researchers, oncologist Georgina Long, said the average risk of recurrence after surgery for the cohort of patients with advanced cancer was 50%. The 157 patients in the Phase 2b trial had high-risk melanomas and received the vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck, along with the immunotherapy Keytruda, or Keytruda alone. The vaccine in combination with Keytruda reduced the risk of recurrence to 25%. The 2.5-year relapse-free survival rate for the vaccine in combination with Keytruda was 74.8%, compared to 55.6% for Keytruda alone.
Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said that the results mark another milestone “in the exciting and developing landscape of cancer vaccine research.”
Known as mRNA-4157 (V940), the vaccine is tailor-made for each patient. A tumor sample is removed during surgery, followed by DNA sequencing and the use of artificial intelligence. The result is a personalized cancer vaccine specific to the patient’s tumor.