A team of scientists is working on the development of a "pioneering" vaccine for lung cancer, which could be effective in preventing approximately 90% of cases of the disease. The vaccine, called "LungVax," is being overseen by the University of Oxford, the Francis Crick Institute, and University College London. Scientists explained that lung cancer cells appear different from normal cells due to the presence of proteins called neoantigens, which emerge on the cell surface due to cancer-causing mutations within the cell's DNA.
The LungVax vaccine will carry a strand of DNA that trains the immune system to recognize the neoantigens present in abnormal lung cells. This will then activate the immune system to kill these cells and stop lung cancer. Professor Tim Elliott, the lead researcher at the University of Oxford, stated: "This research could provide a ready vaccine based on Oxford's vaccine technology, which proved itself during the COVID pandemic. If we can replicate this kind of success that we saw in trials during the pandemic, we can save the lives of tens of thousands of people each year in the UK alone."
Scientists have received approximately £1.7 million from Cancer Research UK and the CRIS Cancer Foundation. The team will receive funding to study over the next two years to support laboratory research and the initial manufacturing of 3,000 doses of the vaccine at the clinical biomanufacturing facility in Oxford. If the vaccine is successful, it will move directly to clinical trials involving individuals at the highest risk of the disease, such as current and former smokers.
