Cancer's New Nemesis: How mRNA Vaccines Are Redrawing Battle Lines Against the Emperor of Maladies

Phase III clinical trials and elsewhere on an mRNA vaccine to treat , a cancer of the skin cells. The current trials involve taking genetic material from cancer cells taken from a patient, creating an mRNA vaccine from that genetic material, and injecting the vaccine back into the patient. dictate that patients be treated with a cancer drug (pembrolizumab) in case the vaccine does not perform as expected.

What is expected to happen is that the patients’ immune cells will take up that mRNA, create proteins similar to those found in cancer cells, and those proteins will trigger an immune response. That immune response will then find any cancer cells with that protein on their surface and destroy them. This should keep the cancer under control or eliminate it completely. It is not much different than what a normally-functioning immune system does every day to deal with stray cancer cells that randomly pop up as we are exposed to cancer-causing agents in the environment, .

This is not the first vaccine to address cancer, and hopefully not the last one. The hepatitis B vaccine is known to prevent liver cancer. It does this by preventing liver disease from hepatitis B infection. If the disease lasts long enough -- or is severe enough -- the liver cells become cancerous, and tumors develop. The vaccine is given at birth . When given in a series, the vaccine has a good track record of preventing hepatitis B disease.

Another vaccine is the HPV vaccine. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact, and usually classified as a sexually transmitted infection (STI). The virus causes inflammation and irritation of cells it infects. Like with hepatitis B, continuous inflammation triggers changes in the cells, leading to cancer. In populations where the vaccine’s uptake is high, .

Unlike the more “traditional” vaccines against infectious agents, these vaccines as cancer treatment are in a class of interventions called “therapeutic vaccines.” That is, they are intended to treat the cancer -- or keep a cancer from returning. They are not intended to prevent cancer.

Most cancers are preventable. Most melanoma cancer can be prevented through . Actions like avoiding direct sunlight, using sunscreen of at least SPF 30, and receiving regular screening for skin conditions (not just cancer). through screenings that may include blood tests for risk factors, fecal tests, or screening colonoscopies. Quitting smoking may prevent lung and other cancers. The list is quite long.

Cancer as a disease will be with humanity for many more years. However, advances in screening and diagnosis, along with prevention and treatment, will reduce the rates of cancer and increase the rates of survival. These new cancer therapeutic vaccines are a new weapon in the arsenal against a devastating disease.

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