First vaccine against lung cancer administered to patient as part of international study

A 67-year-old man from London with lung cancer was the first to receive a new cancer vaccine as part of an international study. The early-stage research is designed to test the safety of the immunotherapy and its ability to be combined with existing cancer treatments.

When you hear “vaccine,” you probably think of the flu or COVID-19 shot. However, a vaccine is any substance that helps the body's immune system recognize and fight disease, including cancer.

A 67-year-old lung cancer patient from London was the first recipient of a new experimental cancer vaccine in the National Health Service (NHS) at University College London Hospitals (UCLH).

“Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020,” said Siow Ming Lee, professor of medical oncology at University Hospital London and leader of the UK arm of the study. “We are now entering this very exciting era of clinical trials of mRNA-based immunotherapy to investigate the treatment of lung cancer… We hope this will provide an opportunity to further improve outcomes for our NSCLC [non-small cell lung cancer] patients, whether in early or advanced stages.”

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of two primary types of lung cancer and is the most common. The other type is small cell lung cancer (SCLC). In NSCLC, the cancer cells arise in lung tissue, and although NSCLC grows more slowly than the small cell variety, it has often spread to other parts of the body by the time it is diagnosed.

The new vaccine BNT116 from the German biotechnology company BioNTech uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to present markers of the tumor to the patient's immune system so that it can recognize and fight the cancer cells with the tumor markers. The vaccine targets the cancer cells via the patient's immune system, unlike chemotherapy, which can be toxic to both cancer cells and healthy cells.

“The strength of our approach is that the treatment specifically targets the cancer cells,” says Dr. Sarah Benafif, the leader of the study.

The study will involve around 130 participants from seven countries. They include patients at different stages of NSCLC, from early stage patients before treatment with surgery or radiotherapy to patients with late stage or recurrent cancer. This early stage research will show whether BNT116 is safe and well tolerated as a standalone anti-tumor treatment and whether it works synergistically when given together with established NSCLC treatments.

Janusz Racz is the first participant in the study. As a scientist, he is happy to be able to contribute to the further development of cancer treatment.

“I thought about it and … decided to participate because I hope it provides a defense against cancer cells,” Racz said. “But I also thought that my participation in this research could help other people in the future and help make this therapy more widely available.”

“As a scientist, I know that science can only progress if people are willing to participate in such programs,” Racz continued. “I work in artificial intelligence and am open to trying new things. My family also researched the trial and supported my participation.”

Source: UCLH/NHS