For the first time in the history of medicine, testing of a vaccine aimed at combating lung cancer has begun. Clinical trials are being conducted in 34 research centers in seven countries: Great Britain, the USA, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Türkiye. This was reported by daily.afisha.ru with reference to The Guardian.
The study involves about 130 patients with various stages of the disease, including relapses. The therapy involves a combination of vaccination and immunotherapy.
The vaccine was developed by the German company BioNTech, which used mRNA technology. The drug is aimed at stimulating the immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells, as well as preventing their reappearance.
The vaccine is intended to treat non-small cell lung cancer, one of the most common forms of this disease.
Researchers hope that the new vaccine will be able to replace chemotherapy, while having a less toxic effect on the body, since it attacks only cancer cells, leaving healthy ones unaffected.
The first patient in the UK to receive the vaccine was 67 years old Janusz Racz, an artificial intelligence specialist. He was diagnosed with cancer in May and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Racz said his scientific work motivated him to take part in the study.
The patient was given six consecutive injections on the same day, each containing a different strand of RNA. The treatment plan calls for weekly injections for six weeks, then every three weeks for a year.
According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, killing approximately 1,8 million people each year.
