Individual cancer vaccines will be tested in Russia. What you need to know

Trials of the world's first mRNA vaccine against cancer will begin in Russia in the coming months. The drug will not be able to prevent the development of cancer, but it will cure it and avoid recurrence. Clinical trials of the vaccine will be conducted on one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, melanoma, but in the future the drug will be used against other oncological diseases. What is known about the new cancer vaccine is in the Izvestia article.

What is a personalized vaccine?

• The therapeutic cancer vaccine, which is being developed in Russia, will become a new generation therapeutic drug, since it will be created for a specific patient. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation therapy, the vaccine acts directly on the tumor, eliminating harm to other body cells. This development will be the first cancer vaccine in the world.

• The technology of rapid vaccine production is being developed by the N. F. Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology (NITSEM). In an experimental mode, such drugs will be introduced on the basis of Russia's leading oncological hospitals — the Herzen Moscow Research Institute of Oncology and the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology.

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How will the vaccine work?

To train the body to fight malignant cells, scientists identify neoantigens — special antigens, proteins that are not formed in healthy cells — for each specific tumor. To do this, specialists study the patient's DNA and identify gene mutations that lead to the formation of neoantigens. Next, doctors, using special algorithms based on artificial intelligence, determine a set of neoantigens of a particular patient's tumor, which will provoke a high immune response of the body. And it is on their basis that an mRNA vaccine is created. Such treatment helps not only to defeat the disease, but also to avoid recurrence of the disease in the future. The vaccine causes the immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells that contain the neoantigens used for the vaccine.

• The personalized medicine will be produced on the basis of the manufacturing organization. Due to the fact that it will be created individually for each patient, the vaccine will not be sold in pharmacies.

• The new drug will be tested on melanoma, a type of malignant tumor that progresses rapidly and affects the skin, mucous membranes and retina of the eye, and can also metastasize to other organs. Melanoma (unlike basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin) often mutates and is the most deadly skin cancer. In the future, the vaccine is planned to be refined for the treatment of other types of cancer.

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The vaccine production process

• Cancer centers will provide biomaterials for the development of personalized vaccines. Specialists will need to perform genomic sequencing (to determine the sequence of the DNA genome) on a sample of a removed tumor or based on the results of a biopsy of an existing melanoma.

• The vaccine will be produced using AI. The data obtained from the study of tumor samples will be processed using artificial intelligence, which will identify targets for the vaccine. Thanks to AI, the time for drug production will be significantly reduced: patients will be able to receive it in about three months.

Broad-spectrum cancer vaccines

• In June 2025, clinical trials of the Enteromix vaccine began in Russia. It is based on combinations of oncolytic viruses that infect and destroy cancer cells in brain and breast tumors. In the course of preclinical trials, scientists managed to achieve the complete disappearance of breast tumors or reduce its volume several times, and the toxic effect on the body is estimated as "small".

• In July, scientists at the University of Florida announced the creation of a vaccine against all types of cancer. Its principle of operation is to enhance the body's immune response. In Russia, the statement of American scientists is treated with caution — so far, researchers have managed to achieve an effect only in mice, and it is not known how the drug will behave when tested on humans.

• Existing vaccines help protect against the appearance of certain types of cancer. Vaccinations against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV) can prevent the development of liver cancer and cervical cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine is included in the Russian national vaccination calendar and newborns receive the first dose of the drug in the hospital. WHO recommends that boys and girls from 9 to 14 years old be vaccinated against HPV.