In a groundbreaking development that could revolutionize the treatment and prevention of lung cancer, the world’s first lung cancer vaccine trials have been launched across seven countries. The vaccine, known as BNT116, has the potential to kill lung cancer cells and prevent their recurrence, offering new hope in the fight against the world’s deadliest cancer.
On August 20, Janusz Racz, 67, became the first patient in the UK to receive the BNT116 vaccine. The vaccine was administered at University College London Hospital as part of a global phase 1 clinical trial aimed at treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer. This mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy, developed by BioNTech, is being tested across 34 research sites in the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and Turkey.
The trial will involve a total of 130 patients, with 20 participants from Britain. Six sites in England and Wales are contributing to this cutting-edge research, which marks a significant step forward in cancer treatment.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with nearly 1.8 million fatalities annually. In the UK alone, there are approximately 48,500 new cases of lung cancer each year. The survival rates for lung cancer are particularly low when tumors spread, and smoking remains the largest preventable cause, responsible for up to 72% of lung cancer cases globally.
How the Lung Cancer Vaccine Works
The BNT116 vaccine operates by ‘instructing’ the body’s immune system to hunt down and kill cancer cells, and crucially, to prevent their return. Similar to the technology used in Covid-19 vaccines, BNT116 utilizes messenger RNA (mRNA) to present the immune system with tumor markers from NSCLC. This primes the body to recognize and destroy cancer cells that express these markers.
Professor Siow Ming Lee of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) expressed optimism about the potential of this new treatment approach. “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer,” he said. “It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”
A New Era in Cancer Treatment
The launch of these trials marks a pivotal moment in cancer research, with the potential to significantly improve outcomes for patients with NSCLC. If successful, the BNT116 vaccine could represent a major advance in the fight against lung cancer, offering a new, highly targeted approach to treating a disease that has long been one of the most challenging to combat.
As the trials progress, the global medical community will be watching closely, hopeful that this innovative vaccine could bring us closer to a future where lung cancer is not only treatable but preventable.
