Feeling like he was reborn with the cancer vaccine he tried as the “Last Hope”, Adrian Taylor is responding to the treatment and one of his tumors has shrunk. Taylor also gave hope to cancer patients by being one of the first people to benefit from cancer vaccines in England.
In addition to the treatment process of Adrian Taylor, you can examine the treatment process in personalized cancer vaccines in this article, perhaps you can inform one of the cancer patients in your circle and open a new door for the treatment process.
Adrian Taylor had only one hope. And that was to participate in a new clinical trial.
Adrian Taylor was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2021. After receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy, he had PET/CT taken in 2022. The good news was that the cancer in his neck and head was about to disappear. He learned that the cancer had spread to his right lung and the 9 mm tumor was incurable.
Learning that there was a 100% chance of dying without treatment, Taylor met with his doctor, thinking that he had to survive for his 4 children and wife. Taylor began researching experimental treatments after realizing that one of the tumors had grown from 9 mm to 25 mm in a short time and was not suitable for surgery.
Taylor, who applied for a personalized cancer vaccine and was deemed suitable for experimental treatment, received another dose every three weeks after receiving her first dose and was scanned every eight weeks. The results of the last scan were very promising for both the doctor and Taylor. Taylor’s largest tumor, at 25 mm, had shrunk to 4.6 mm.
Taylor also stated in her interviews that she was very happy for the moments when she could do many things that she thought she could not do. Taylor will continue to receive the vaccine regularly during the two-year treatment period.
What is a personalized cancer vaccine?
The mRNA that will revolutionize cancer is the same approach used in COVID-19 vaccines. mRNA has actually been tested for cancer treatment for close to 10 years. Its success in COVID-19 was promising for scientists.
mRNA is genetic planning that instructs cells to make proteins. First, genetic mutations in the proteins that cause the tumor to grow are analyzed. The molecule, also called the neoantigen, which gives instructions for the tumor protein, is then produced in the cells.
After the molecules produced are injected into the patient, the patient is instructed to produce proteins that will cause an immune response against the proteins present in the tumor cells. Dendritic cells, which are immune cells that can be called the sentinels of the immune system, initiate the immune response by translating what comes from the vaccine and releasing antigens into the cells.
Studies continue according to cancer types.
Many clinical trials continue to test the mRNA vaccine against various types of cancer, such as colorectal and pancreatic cancer. These vaccines are not evaluated alone but in combination with other immune-boosting drugs.
Six cancer vaccines are being trialled at Clatterbridge alone, including prostate and skin cancer. Experts say that by 2030, personalized vaccines should be made for 10,000 patients.
mRNA is more than a vaccine.
James Spicer, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at King’s College London, underlines that it is not enough to just call mRNA a vaccine. Spicer calls it “RNA therapeutics” for mRNA.
It seems possible that metastatic cells will remain behind after the tumor of patients who have undergone surgery for cancer is removed. Instead of waiting for it to metastasize, the genetic code taken from the tumor is sequenced and a vaccine is prepared against abnormal proteins. Thus, the immune system learns to recognize this protein and fight it if it encounters it again.
Promising results continue to be obtained.
Other results from personalized cancer vaccine trials are promising for the future of cancer. Tests in more than three-quarters of high-risk skin cancer patients who were vaccinated showed no recurrence after 18 months.
Good news was also given in studies on pancreatic cancer, one of the most aggressive types of cancer. Half of the 16 pancreatic cancer patients who entered the vaccine trial at New York Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center did not have a recurrence or had a delayed recurrence.
We hope that vaccine studies will continue at full speed and become accessible to everyone.
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