The arsenal of cancer treatments continues to grow, and to the important advances made with immunotherapy is now added a new type of vaccine that can help the immune system eliminate cancerous tumors with a mechanism of action based on overcoming its defense system , and which has been successfully tested in mouse and Rhesus macaque cancer models, as published in the journal Nature.
The new cancer vaccine has been developed by a group of scientists affiliated with various institutions in the US and one in Japan and is capable of suppressing one of the key defense strategies used by tumors, and that is to separate T cells and natural killer cells from their surfaces. These immune system cells are activated when the body detects a growing tumor and alerts the immune system. By getting rid of them after they attach to the MICA and MICB proteins on their surface, tumors can grow freely.
This vaccine intervenes in the excision process and prevents the tumor from eliminating the immune cells that the body has sent to kill it. The drug stops this cleavage process by increasing the density of proteins on the surface of tumor cells, which the researchers have described as “inciting protective immunity.”
A vaccine capable of fighting multiple types of cancer
Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery have been the main cancer treatments until recently, but scientists have continued to search for other more effective therapeutic alternatives with fewer adverse effects, such as vaccines and, for example, the HPV vaccine has reduced the chances of developing cervical cancer and other types of cancer. The researchers who have created this new, more widespread vaccine believe that it can be used against multiple types of cancer in many types of cancer patients.
This vaccine prevents the tumor from eliminating the immune cells that the body has sent to kill it.
The vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective in rhesus macaque and mouse models, and these scientists note that there is evidence that it works even better when used in conjunction with radiotherapy. In addition, it is also effective in a very important area: immunization after surgical removal of highly metastatic primary tumors inhibits further growth of metastases. The team of researchers is now working to design a clinical trial that will test the new vaccine in humans.
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