🧬 From 13% to 88%: This many survive pancreatic cancer thanks to new vaccine

• Seven of eight patients who responded to the personalized mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer are still alive six years after treatment.
• The vaccine is tailored to each patient using genetic material from their unique tumor cells.
• A Phase 2 study with more participants is already underway.

How the vaccine works

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. Fewer than 13 percent of those diagnosed survive more than five years. New data from a Phase 1 clinical trial now shows that a personalized mRNA vaccine can produce a lasting immune response — and that most patients who responded to the vaccine are still alive six years later.

The vaccine is a form of immunotherapy. It activates the body's own immune system to fight cancer cells. The goal is not to remove existing tumors, but to seek out and destroy lingering cancer cells after surgery — and prevent new cells from causing a recurrence.

Patients first undergo surgery to remove the tumor. Genetic material from their individual tumor cells is then analyzed, and the vaccine is manufactured specifically for each person. In the study, patients received nine doses of the vaccine, followed by standard chemotherapy.

Results after six years

The study included 16 patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer. Eight of them responded to the vaccine and produced a strong immune response in the form of T cells — immune cells that seek out and destroy tumor cells. This was unexpected, as pancreatic cancer has long been considered one of the hardest cancers in which to generate any immune response at all.

Six years after treatment, seven of the eight patients who responded to the vaccine are still alive. Of the eight who did not respond, two are still alive. Two of the responding patients experienced a cancer recurrence, and one of them has since died.

The new results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in San Diego.

Two types of T cells working together

The research team also investigated how the immune response functions at the cellular level. They found that two types of T cells likely work in tandem to create a lasting defense. So-called killer T cells directly attack cancer cells. Helper T cells appear to extend the lifespan of these killer cells — which may be critical for maintaining the immune response over time.

The study's lead researcher, Dr. Vinod Balachandran at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, describes it as the vaccine needing to generate both types of T cells for an optimal response.

Larger study underway

The drugmakers Genentech and BioNTech, behind the vaccine, have already launched a Phase 2 study with more participants. A separate research team is working on a standardized vaccine targeting a protein called KRAS, which is present in up to 90 percent of all pancreatic cancer cases. In a small early trial, around 85 percent of participants mounted an immune response to the protein.

Researchers not involved in the study note that the results come from a small group of patients and that more research is needed. There is always a subset of pancreatic cancer patients who survive longer than five years, and it remains unclear what role the vaccine plays compared to other factors.

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