It essentially tells the body to produce certain proteins that stimulate the immune system – including a protein within cancer cells known as PD-L1 (Programmed Death-Ligand 1), which makes tumors become more visible to immune cells.
The researchers found a way to induce PD-L1 expression inside tumors using a generalized mRNA vaccine, essentially tricking the cancer cell into exposing itself, so immunotherapy can be more effective.
In this study on mice with melanoma, the vaccine was able to clear existing tumors that had proven drug-resistant. In other cancer models, including brain, skin and bone, the drug was even able to wipe out tumors without the assistance of any other treatment.
This approach is a little unorthodox in a field moving increasingly more towards personalized medicine with a precise target in the crosshairs.
Universal cancer vaccine is quite an ambitious and sensationalized headline. While treatment of glioblastoma is nothing to shake a stick at, there's a lot more studies in mice than there are successful drugs for people.
It seems limited in value if the cancer is calling from inside the house with immune cell cancers. It seems probable to me that any highly metabolic tissue could absorb some of the uh oh ligand encoded in the mRNA, become immune targets, and set of an autoimmune disease. This would be double jeopardy during cancer which would also be exhausting for your immune system.
Each cancer is a cell crashing the fuck out and I'm skeptical of anybody who has a cure for crashing out writ large. If the cell is weak to something, your other cells are weak to it too. I like the idea of a personalized treatment so you could say things like "my tumor is like my cells that are high in PEEPEE1 but they're unique in that they're also high in POOPOO2, so my treatment is
If PEEPEE1 AND POOPOO2{
Apoptosis(now)
}
