Shelly Fan in Singularity Hub:
When Angela received her first shot at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in early 2020, Covid-19 was months away. Far from a household name, mRNA vaccines were mostly relegated to lab studies. Yet the jab she received was made of the same technology. A melanoma patient, Angela had multiple malignant moles removed. Alongside an established immune-stimulating drug, the hope was the duo could fight off any residual cancerous cells and slash the chances of relapse. Scientists have long sought cancer vaccines that prevent the pesky cells from growing back. Like those targeting viruses, the vaccines would train the body’s immune system to recognize the cancerous cells and attack and eliminate them before they could grow and spread. Despite decades of research into cancer vaccines, the dream has mostly failed. One reason is that every cancer, in every person, is different. So is each person’s immune system. Tailoring vaccines to neutralize cancers for each patient would not only be expensive, but sometimes impossible due to how long they’d take to develop—time is not on cancer patients’ sides.
In contrast, mRNA vaccines are far speedier to build. After they were removed, Angela’s malignant moles were analyzed for specific cancerous “fingerprints” or neoantigens. Based on these proteins, scientists at Moderna—known for their Covid-19 vaccines—built a custom mRNA cancer vaccine to train her immune system to prevent her own cancer from recurring.
More here.