An important trial of the world’s first “personalised” mRNA vaccine against the deadliest form of skin cancer – melanoma – is now under way in the UK.
The injection with the rather snappy name of mRNA 4157 (v940) uses the same technology as COVID vaccinations and is designed to help the immune system recognise and wipe out any remaining cancerous cells.
University College London Hospitals (UCLH) doctors are giving it alongside another drug, pembrolizumab or Keytruda, that also helps the immune system kill cancer cells.
It’s important to note that the treatment made by Moderna and Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), is not yet available routinely on the NHS, outside of phase III clinical trials.
Experts in some other countries, including Australia, are also trying it on patients, to gather more evidence and see whether it should be rolled out more widely.
The vaccine is personalised – meaning the make-up of it is changed to suit the individual patient.
It is created to match the unique genetic signature of the patient’s own tumour and works by instructing the body to make proteins or antibodies that attack markers or antigens found only on those cancer cells.
The UK part of the international trial aims to recruit at least 60-70 patients across eight centres, including in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Leeds.
Patients on the trial must have had their high-risk melanoma surgically removed in the last 12 weeks to ensure the best result.
Phase II trial data, published in December, found that people with serious high-risk melanomas who received the jab alongside the immunotherapy Keytruda were almost half (49%) as likely to die or have their cancer come back after three years than those who were given only the drug.
This is a massively exciting development running alongside immunotherapy treatment that could change the landscape for melanoma patients in years to come.
I was lucky enough to join the BBC Radio 2 show, hosted by Jeremy Vine where the news of the personalised vaccine was being discussed the link to a recording of that part of the show is shown below:-
