mRNA vaccines show promise in pancreatic cancer in early trial [View all]

NBC
Feb. 19, 2025, 11:22 AM EST
By Kaitlin Sullivan

Personalized mRNA vaccines show promise as pancreatic cancer treatment, a phase 1 clinical trial published Wednesday in Nature found.

Fewer than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it one of the deadliest types of cancer. That is, in part, because around 90% of cases are diagnosed when the disease is already advanced.

Pancreatic cancer cells also spread to other parts of the body much earlier on than in other cancers, which typically spread only when the original tumors are large. The disease typically doesn’t cause symptoms until later stages and there isn’t a routine screening for this cancer, such as a mammogram or colonoscopy.

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To be effective, mRNA cancer vaccines have to produce a lot of T cells, a type of immune cell that protects the body against invaders. These T cells also need to last a long time in cancer patients and retain their ability to detect and fight off cancer cells. While this is a relatively straightforward feat when it comes to viruses, teaching a person’s T cells to fight nonforeign cells that their body itself made is much more difficult.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/pancreatic-cancer-vaccine-mrna-treatment-trial-rcna192702