Researchers have developed a pioneering vaccine that grants immunity against a number of aggressive cancers before they grow and spread. The new vaccine contains tiny nanoparticles made of fatty molecules that provide substances that enhance the body’s immune response.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States, and its results were published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine on October 9, and the British newspaper Daily Mail wrote about it.
Experiments at the University of Massachusetts Amherst began by combining nanoparticles with an antigen that stimulates an immune response to cancer. Mice that received the vaccine were then exposed to melanoma (a type of skin cancer), a type of tumor that can spread to any organ.
It is impressive that 80% of the mice that received the nanoparticle vaccine remained tumor-free and survived for 250 days. In contrast, all mice that received conventional vaccines or did not receive any vaccine developed tumors and died within 35 days.
While the team is working to develop a treatment for humans, they caution that their work is still in its early stages.
Stop cancer
Researchers found that the injection stopped the spread of cancer to the lungs. The team then tested a second version of the vaccine consisting of nanoparticles and another antigen called a tumor antigen.
Mice vaccinated with this vaccine later developed skin cancer, breast cancer cells, or the most common type of pancreatic cancer.
Overall, 88% of mice exposed to pancreatic cancer, 75% of mice exposed to breast cancer, and 69% of mice exposed to skin cancer remained tumor-free, and all mice that remained tumor-free after vaccination resisted the development of secondary malignancies when exposed to the cells. Cancerous.
Study author Prabhani Atukurali, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has previously shown that her nanoparticle-based drug design can shrink or eliminate tumors in mice.
The results reveal that this approach could also prevent cancer from forming in the first place, and the researchers say their design could be used on multiple types of cancer, not just the ones tested in this study.