A new vaccine that instructs the body to hunt and kill cancer cells is now being tested on patients in seven countries. The vaccine, called BNT116, is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease.
Lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8m deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor.
The phase 1 clinical trial, the first human study of BNT116, has launched across 34 research sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey.
The jab uses messenger RNA (mRNA), and works by presenting the immune system with tumour markers from NSCLC to prime the body to fight cancer cells expressing these markers.
The aim is to strengthen a person’s immune response to cancer while leaving healthy cells untouched, unlike chemotherapy.
Source: The Guardian
