Vaccine for Cancer & Neoantigens

Why in News?

Recent reports in Russia’s state-run news agency claimed that Russian scientists have developed an mRNA vaccine that has shown the ability to suppress tumour development and metastasis in pre-clinical trials.

• Vaccine – A substance or group of substances meant to cause the immune system to respond to harmful pathogenic microorganisms.
• Vaccination - The process of using a vaccine to stimulate the immune system to provide protection against a disease.
• Cancer vaccine – Unlike vaccines for infections that are given to healthy individuals to protect them from disease, cancer vaccines are given to those who already have certain types of cancers.

Cancer is a disease in which some of the body's cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.

• Approach — They can be given in combination with other treatments for better outcomes or they can be given for maintenance to prevent relapse.
• The personalised vaccine was developed by collecting the patients’ immune cells, exposing it to a protein found in high levels in prostate cancer cells, and then giving it back to patients.
• However, it extended the patient’s survival by only 4 months.
• Vaccine preventable Cancers – There are at least 2 cancers whose incidence can be reduced by vaccinating against 2 pathogens
• Preventing chronic hepatitis B infection with vaccination can bring down the incidence
  • Cervical Cancer
  • Liver Cancer

Cervavac is India’s 1^st indigenous quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.

• Existing vaccines – The only cancer vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration is Sipuleucel-T, for the treatment of prostate cancer.
• Russian mRNA vaccine – It can be “personalised” based on the genetic analysis of each person’s tumour to identify mutations called neoantigens.
• Neoantigens – A new protein that forms on cancer cells when certain mutations occur in tumor DNA.
• Significance – They may play an important role in helping the body make an immune response against cancer cells.

Reference

The Indian Express| Russian vaccine for Cancer