A cancer prevention vaccine for people at high risk of bowel and ovarian cancer has been developed by the University of Oxford with the pharmaceutical firm Moderna. A new study launching this summer will assess whether the jab can train the immune system to recognise and eliminate pre-cancerous cells in people with Lynch syndrome before cancer develops.
The move is a first for Moderna into cancer prevention using its mRNA technology. Experts at Oxford believe it also has the potential to be adapted for other cancers in the future. Around one in 300 people in England have Lynch syndrome (equivalent to around 175,000 people), but just 5% are aware they have the condition.
Lynch syndrome is linked to a far higher risk of bowel, womb and ovarian cancer, alongside other types such as stomach, pancreatic, kidney and skin cancer. Around 1,100 bowel cancers are caused by Lynch syndrome each year in England and it is thought the syndrome increases the lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer by around 80%.
The new Intercept-Lynch trial is part of a scientific collaboration between the University of Oxford and Moderna, while Cancer Research UK has backed the vaccine development. Once patients receive the new mRNA-4194 jab, experts will then analyse their immune responses, what the perfect dose is and will check the jab is safe.
The second phase of the study will include multiple centres across the UK, including Oxford, and is expected to begin in 2027. Professor David Church, Cancer Research UK senior cancer research fellow in the University of Oxford’s centre for human genetics and the lead investigator of the trial, told the Press Association that people with Lynch syndrome inherit a faulty copy of a gene essential for repairing DNA.
He said the aim of the new trial is to “train the immune system with a vaccine” to recognise abnormalities and stop them developing into cancer. In people with Lynch syndrome, mutations can build up, making the cells containing them more likely to transform into cancerous cells.
However, the mutations can be made visible to the immune system and, with enough stimulation, the immune system can attack the abnormal cells and stop cancer from forming. Prof Church said the mRNA jab therefore acts as “an instruction manual” for the body to attack the pre-cancerous cells.
He added that, as with many vaccines, there may be a need for patients to have a booster jab at some stage. Nevertheless, the vaccine could be “transformative” in preventing cancer in people with Lynch syndrome and can also be given to Lynch patients who have already suffered one type of cancer.
“People with Lynch syndrome are at risk of cancers over their entire lives,” he said. “So, it’s very common, for instance, a woman to have a first cancer of her womb, and then some years later have a bowel cancer, or vice versa.
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