A personalized mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer kept nearly 90% of responding patients alive four to six years after treatment, according to follow-up data from a phase 1 trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with a five-year survival rate of just 13%. The results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting.
Of the 16 patients who received the individualized vaccine after surgery, eight showed a strong immune response. Of those eight, seven were still alive years later. (Among the eight who did not respond, only two survived, with a median survival of 3.4 years.)
The vaccine, called autogene cevumeran, uses mRNA—the same platform used in several COVID vaccines—to instruct the patient’s cells to produce proteins unique to that individual’s tumor. Each vaccine is custom-built: Tumor tissue is genetically sequenced to identify up to 20 mutations most likely to trigger an immune response, and the vaccine is manufactured to target them. The immune system then learns to recognize and attack cancer cells carrying those mutations.
