We are close to a vaccine against pancreatic cancer, one of the most difficult to fight

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and difficult to fight. Therefore, the approach of a vaccine has everything to be good and hopeful news.

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Because it does not show symptoms in the initial phase and because it results in signs that are not exclusive to it and that can point to other diseases, pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and most difficult to fight.  Furthermore, and despite the risk factors, there are no specific strategies to prevent it.
Because it is frighteningly serious, the search for a vaccine that fights it has been incessant.  Now, a team of researchers it found a formula that turned out to be promising.

These exciting results indicate that we may be able to use vaccines as a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

shared Vinod Balachandran, an expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and one of the study's authors, in a press release.  In the same communication, it is read that the next test is already being prepared and should start in August.




Vinod Balachandran, one of the authors of the study

The formula uses a technology that will be no stranger to you, as it gained great relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic: messenger RNA (mRNA).  The vaccine has already been tested in a small clinical trial with 16 patients – the limited number of participants is due to the objective of this first phase of the study to confirm the safety of the treatment, although it gives some indications about its effectiveness.
Relapses are one of the biggest challenges that sufferers face.  In this trial, eight of the patients developed an immune response against their tumors and did not experience any relapses during the 18-month study period.

The treatment given to the 16 patients combined the vaccine with chemotherapy and another compound designed to reduce the tumors' ability to evade the immune response stimulated by the vaccine.
The clinical trial was carried out by a team of researchers led by experts from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.