The virologist spoke about the work of the vaccine against cancer

The technology that was used to create vaccines against COVID-19 helped to develop a vaccine against cancer. Thanks to her, scientists were able to analyze neo-antigens from a patient's tumor and make a drug that is suitable for him. Anatoly Altstein, Chief Researcher at the N.F. Gamalei Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told about this in the new issue of the Izvestia podcast.

"The fact is that the human body consists of about two hundred different tissues. A tumor occurs due to the fact that a certain change has occurred in one cell. There can be a lot of variants of this tumor, and as a result, each patient needs to be approached individually, to create a vaccine against this particular person's cancer," said the virologist.

To do this, they remove the tumor, take DNA from it, analyze it and find areas that are not present in normal cells, the so-called neo-antigens. The nucleotide sequences that encode these neo-antigens are inserted into the mRNA of the vaccine, he said.

Alstein explained that even after the removal of a malignant tumor, unhealthy cells remain, and if the body becomes immune due to vaccination, they will die.

According to him, the creation of an individual vaccine can take about a month. He noted that the technology is complex and expensive, but not so much that insurance companies would not be able to cover these costs.

The virologist also noted that research is now aimed at combating melanoma, pancreatic and lung cancers.

"The first results are encouraging, not to say that everything is absolutely brilliant, but this work is designed for many years," the scientist is sure.

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Alexander Seryakov, MD, Professor, Chief oncologist at the SM Clinic Center, named the most common types of cancer in men and women on September 23. For example, breast cancer is the most common disease in women in the world, and prostate cancer in men. According to the oncologist, the condition and prognosis always depend on the form of cancer and its stage.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.