A clinical trial testing a potentially ground-breaking vaccine against skin cancer has recruited its first patients.
The trial, being run at University College London Hospitals, is using the mRNA-based technology used to develop the Covid-19 vaccines and is aimed at people who have already had high-risk melanomas removed.
The new phase 3 clinical trial is evaluating the combination of mRNA-4157 (V940) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab) versus a current standard of care (pembrolizumab) as a risk-reducing treatment option for patients with resected, high-risk, stage IIB to IV melanoma, the hospital said.
It follows a successful phase 2 study which found that, in patients with stage IIIB to IV resected melanoma, this treatment option almost halved the risk of cancer recurrence or death after three years compared with treatment with Keytruda alone.
Skin cancer
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The personalised treatment works by instructing the body to make up to 34 proteins, each targeting so-called ‘neoantigens’ identified by gene sequencing and thought to be driving the cancer in that particular patient.
The neoantigens are proteins found only on the cancer cells, and the individualised neoantigen therapy is designed to prime the immune system to attack the tumour cells in each patient, while Keytruda blocks an immunological ‘brake’ that protects the cancer.
Medical oncologist Heather Shaw, the national coordinating investigator of this new trial, said: “The idea behind this immunotherapy is that, by prompting the body to make these proteins, it can prepare the immune system to quickly identify and attack any cancer cells bearing them, with the aim of preventing recurrence of melanoma.”
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Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and is characterised by the uncontrolled growth of pigment-producing cells.
Rates of melanoma have been rising over the past few decades, with nearly 325,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2020. In the UK, melanoma is the fifth most common type of cancer, accounting for about 8,400 new cases every year.
