German doctors are launching phase one clinical trials on an mRNA injection that is designed to hunt down and obliterate malignant cells related to lung cancer.The trials will be conducted at 34 sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey. The jab, what is being called a “vaccine,” is designed for people who already have lung cancer. It is hypothetically meant to cure the patient of cancer and prevent it from coming back. The first dose was administered on Tuesday to a patient in the UK. About 1.8 million people die from lung cancer each year. It is the most prevalent form of cancer in the world, and survival rate is very low, especially in advanced cases with rapidly spreading tumours. BioNTech’s BNT116 is meant to combat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease, per the Guardian. About 130 patients from early to advanced stages of lung cancer are participating in the study. The treatment will be used in tandem with immunotherapy, which is a the “treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system,” per the Canadian Cancer SocietyThe mRNA injection, not unlike the COVID-19 shots, uses messenger RNA to prime the immune system with NSCLC tumour markers. The immune system then is supposed to fight cancer cells with these markers. “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer,” Prof. Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust (UCLH), which is leading the trial in the UK, told the Guardian. “It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”The process includes six injections five minutes apart over the course of 30 minutes. Each jab carries different strands of mRNA. This will go on once a week for six weeks, and then once every three weeks for 54 weeks. UK Science Minister Lord Vallance celebrated mRNA trials. “This approach has the potential to save the lives of thousands diagnosed with lung cancer every year,” he said. “We back our researchers so that they continue to be an integral part of projects that produce groundbreaking therapies, like this one.”
German doctors are launching phase one clinical trials on an mRNA injection that is designed to hunt down and obliterate malignant cells related to lung cancer.The trials will be conducted at 34 sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey. The jab, what is being called a “vaccine,” is designed for people who already have lung cancer. It is hypothetically meant to cure the patient of cancer and prevent it from coming back. The first dose was administered on Tuesday to a patient in the UK. About 1.8 million people die from lung cancer each year. It is the most prevalent form of cancer in the world, and survival rate is very low, especially in advanced cases with rapidly spreading tumours. BioNTech’s BNT116 is meant to combat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease, per the Guardian. About 130 patients from early to advanced stages of lung cancer are participating in the study. The treatment will be used in tandem with immunotherapy, which is a the “treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system,” per the Canadian Cancer SocietyThe mRNA injection, not unlike the COVID-19 shots, uses messenger RNA to prime the immune system with NSCLC tumour markers. The immune system then is supposed to fight cancer cells with these markers. “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer,” Prof. Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust (UCLH), which is leading the trial in the UK, told the Guardian. “It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”The process includes six injections five minutes apart over the course of 30 minutes. Each jab carries different strands of mRNA. This will go on once a week for six weeks, and then once every three weeks for 54 weeks. UK Science Minister Lord Vallance celebrated mRNA trials. “This approach has the potential to save the lives of thousands diagnosed with lung cancer every year,” he said. “We back our researchers so that they continue to be an integral part of projects that produce groundbreaking therapies, like this one.”
