Personalized Melanoma Vaccine Could Be a ‘Game Changer’ by Teaching the Body to Fight Cancer Cells
Source: Smithsonian Magazine, April 2024
A global trial has begun for the world’s first personalized vaccine for melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer, which affects about 132,000 people per year. If successful, the therapy will prevent melanoma from returning in patients who have already been treated.
Participants in the Phase III trial, led by the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, begin by having a piece of their tumor surgically removed and its DNA sequenced. This genetic analysis informs the design of each person’s individualized vaccine, an mRNA therapy developed by drug giants Merck and Moderna.