The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many losses but also spurred the development of a range of new treatments for other diseases as well. A trial in the UK shows that COVID-19 vaccine technology used to treat cancer has brought very positive signs.
Nearly a year ago, due to the appearance of a malignant tumor, Mr. Wright’s lower jaw was forced to be removed and replaced with bone taken from his leg. Now is the time to prevent that tumor from coming back. And doctors at Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Liverpool, England have found a way.
They gave him a shot of the vaccine. The vaccine will help his immune system suppress the tumor at the first signs of a recurrence.
Christian Ottensmeier, Clinical Research Director, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, UK, said: “If we could train the immune system to recognize cancer cells that are highly likely to cause recurrence, right away. Even if the tumor is not visible, the patient has a better chance of survival.”
It is worth mentioning that this is a vaccine developed from COVID-19 vaccine technology.
To create a new cancer vaccine, cancer cells are first removed from the patient. The tumor’s unique DNA mutations were identified, then cut out and pasted into a harmless virus.
When injected into the body, the virus “trains” the immune system to target cancer cells, hoping to destroy them before they form a new tumor.
So far, 8 patients have received this method and they remained healthy for several months after receiving the treatment. As for the other group of 8 patients who did not receive the injection, 2 of them have relapsed so far.
Professor Adrian Hill, from the Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford, UK, said: “This vaccine technology has proven to be safe in billions of people during the pandemic. This is very useful data that opens the door to better therapies. for cancer treatment”.
Mr. Wright currently has to get a dose of the vaccine every three weeks, but he says he feels very well.
Not only AstraZeneca’s technology, the mRNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna is also being developed to treat various types of cancer.
