Russia is finalizing the development of a vaccine against cancer. What you need to know

The head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) Veronika Skvortsova said that at the end of 2025 in Russia it will be possible to start using domestic vaccines against cancer. Studies have shown that it can reduce tumor volume by 80% in intestinal adenocarcinoma in animals. What prospects opens the emergence of cancer vaccines - in the material "Izvestia".

What is a cancer vaccine

- Under the cancer vaccine should not be literally understood as the same vaccines that prevent infection with influenza and other infections. Cancers are not contagious to humans and are caused by malfunctions in the body, usually when the immune system is weakened. To develop a drug, after the introduction of which you can not be afraid of getting cancer, is out of the question. Antitumor vaccines rather refer to treatment methods that are used in case of already diagnosed cancer.

- Two conditionally preventive cancer vaccines do exist. Scientists have found that hepatitis B and C increase the risk of liver cancer, and human papillomavirus increases the risk of cervical cancer. Vaccines exist against these viruses, and their use will reduce the likelihood of cancerous lesions of these particular organs. There is also some link between cancer and other diseases, such as HIV and Helicobacteriosis, but their prevention is not linked to vaccination.

- Therapeutic cancer vaccines, already existing and under development, aim to direct the immune system so that it starts fighting tumor cells on the antigens they have. This method of treatment is called immunotherapy. Ideally, it should be an effective and safe way to beat cancer without threatening the same negative effects as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

- To create a cancer vaccine, scientists need to identify antigens for each specific type of tumor cell. From these, the immune system, spurred on by the drug, will determine which cells should be destroyed. Scientists have identified several ways exactly how vaccines should work and are now trying to put these ideas into practice.

- Cancer vaccines can also include drugs based on oncolytic viruses. These contain viruses that can infect and destroy cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Unlike immune vaccines, here it is not the body itself that fights cancer, but the introduced viruses.

What is known about the Russian vaccine

- Recently, progress has been made thanks to the development of coronavirus mRNA vaccines - the principle behind their work has been in demand in the field of oncology. All leading research centers are trying to work in this direction, achieving certain results.

- In Russia, mRNA-vaccines have reached clinical trials on humans and will first of all be used in melanoma, as it is easier to trace its effect in superficial cancers. The list of potentially curable diseases in the future may include lung cancer, some gastrointestinal cancers and kidney cancer.

- The Russian cancer vaccine is being developed by scientists from the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, the Blokhin Research Center for Oncology and the Herzen Moscow Oncology Research Institute, which is part of the Radiology Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health. Preclinical studies on it were conducted for three years.

- Experiments with the vaccine showed that it is able to reduce the size of malignant intestinal adenocarcinoma in animals by 75-80%. This allowed the test subjects to continue living with the tumor and not die because of it.

- The new mRNA vaccine will be created for each individual based on their "tumor passport". Analysis of the genetic features of cancer cells should show exactly how to adjust the vaccine so that the patient's immune system starts fighting them. In September 2024, Russia passed a law allowing the use of personalized medicines. The first of three phases of clinical trials requires authorization from the Ministry of Health to begin.

What other cancer vaccines exist

- Since the early 1990s, the BCG vaccine has been used to treat bladder cancer. It was originally developed to fight tuberculosis, but has shown itself to be effective against this particular cancer (also against leprosy). At the same time, scientists still have not figured out why exactly it helps against cancer, which does not prevent the drug from being actively used for treatment.

- In 2010, the vaccine "Provenge" was approved, which helps in the fight against prostate cancer. Since 2015, the vaccine "Imgilik", which contains an oncolytic virus based on herpes, has been used. It helps fight melanoma, but causes the same symptoms as herpes.

- Moderna's new mRNA vaccine for melanoma (skin cancer) was able to cut in half the risk of recurrence and death among test subjects in preliminary trials. It has yet to undergo phase 3 trials.

What are the challenges of creating cancer vaccines?

- Scientists are only at the very beginning of the journey to create a full spectrum cancer vaccine. They need to solve many problems that prevent them from putting into practice what should work in theory. It is worth remembering that not all tumor cells in general have their unique antigens, and this is the main condition for the development of a vaccine. If the immune system is directed to those antigens that are also present in healthy cells, the vaccine will destroy them at the same time, and the consequences of this can be dangerous.

- Tumor cells do not always obediently await the fate of the vaccine. They may resist attempts to destroy themselves by using different mechanisms to become invisible to the immune system. They will also evolve to try to survive the onslaught of immune surveillance. In some cases, a vaccine will only prolong life, but not cure the adapting cancer.

- In the fight against cancer, much depends on the size of the tumor. Even if the necessary immune response is triggered, it may be too weak to completely defeat the cancer. And the immune system itself can fail if it is already weakened enough due to other diseases or age. Even if a working vaccine is found for a specific type of cancer, it will still need to be modified for different groups of people: the elderly, children, those with comorbidities.

- It is also worth considering that the development of an mRNA vaccine implies the creation of a personalized preparation, i.e. each individual patient will need to develop his or her own serum based on tumor analysis. It will not only take a long time to produce such a vaccine (and during this time the tumor will have time to change), but it will also be expensive. For the drug to really help, it still has to be made available.

When preparing the material, Izvestia took into account the opinions of:

• Andrey Kaprin, general director of the Russian Ministry of Health's NMRC of Radiology, chief oncologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and RAO;
• Vyacheslav Kosorukov, Director of the Research Institute of Experimental Tumor Diagnostics and Therapy at the Blokhin Oncology Research Center.