A revolutionary new cancer treatment known as mRNA therapy has been given to patients at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. The trial was set up to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the therapy in treating melanoma, lung cancer, and other solid tumors.
The new treatment works by using genetic material known as messenger RNA (or mRNA) to present common markers from the tumor to the patient's immune system.
The goal is to recognize and help fight cancer cells that express these markers.
“New mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies offer a means of mobilizing a patient's own immune system to fight cancer,” said David, from Imperial College London, a researcher on the UK arm of the trial.・Dr. Pinato said.
Pinato said the research is still in its early stages and could be years before it is available to patients. However, this new trial has laid an important foundation that may help develop new, less toxic and more precise anti-cancer therapies. “We desperately need these to turn the tide in the fight against cancer,” he added.
Recently, many cancer vaccines have entered clinical trials around the world. These fall into two categories. One is personalized cancer immunotherapy, which relies on extracting a patient's own genetic material from the tumor. And cancer immunotherapies, such as mRNA therapy newly introduced in London, are tailored 'off-the-shelf' to specific types of cancer.
The main aim of this new trial, known as Mobilize, is to discover whether this particular type of mRNA therapy is safe, well tolerated and can shrink tumors in patients with lung or skin cancer. It may be administered alone or in combination with the existing anticancer drug pembrolizumab.
Researchers believe that although this experimental treatment is still in the early stages of testing, if this approach proves safe and effective, it could ultimately provide a new treatment option for hard-to-treat cancers. He said he hopes that this could lead to.
Almost one in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. Various treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy have been developed to treat patients.
However, cancer cells can become resistant to drugs, making tumors more difficult to treat, and scientists are keen to explore new approaches to tackling cancer.
Preclinical studies in both cellular and animal models of cancer have provided evidence that new mRNA therapies impact the immune system and could be delivered to patients in early-stage clinical trials.