In the near future, humans may use vaccines to treat cancer, an old and difficult disease. On February 22, 2023, Modena and MSD announced that their new tumor antigen mRNA vaccine, mRNA-4157, combined with PD-1 antibody for adjuvant treatment of high-risk melanoma, was certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a breakthrough therapy, which is the world's first mRNA tumor vaccine to be certified. In January this year, the British government announced to cooperate with the German company BioNTech to test the mRNA vaccine technology used to treat cancer and other diseases. The goal of this project is to carry out personalized mRNA therapy trials in more than 10000 British patients by 2030. The project will start as early as this autumn. Modena and BioNTech are just two biotechnology companies that are famous for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in the COVID-19. At present, there are dozens of clinical trials related to mRNA tumor vaccine in the world. In addition to melanoma, it also includes pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, etc. Some trials are used in combination with other tumor immune drugs, but none has been officially approved by FDA. "The tumor vaccine has finally made progress," media including Bloomberg wrote. Kona, a researcher at the School of Medicine of Zhejiang University, said in an interview with China News Weekly, "This is a milestone progress in the field of cancer immunotherapy." Modena's breakthrough means that it can accelerate the clinical research and regulatory approval of such therapies, and also more confirm the potential of mRNA tumor vaccine as a personalized cancer treatment tool. Several interviewees pointed out that when more funds enter, tumor vaccine is expected to become another star track in the field of tumor treatment after PD-1. However, there are still many scientific and industrial challenges for this medical technology before it can be used. Making cancer vaccines is Modena's "old line". In the 1970s, the Hungarian scientist Katarin Kariko took the lead in carrying out early mRNA research. It has been more than 40 years since then until December 14, 2020, when the United States first approved the use of mRNA vaccines. Over the past 30 years, researchers in the field of cancer diseases have been developing treatments called personalized vaccines. In fact, using the magic of mRNA to deal with cancer is a long, low-key and bumpy journey. Before COVID-19 vaccine, many companies, including Modena, mainly focused on cancer vaccine based on mRNA platform. The core principle is very simple: the most powerful pharmaceutical factory in the world may be in our body. MRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) is essentially a code, similar to the 0 and 1 of a computer, which tells cells which proteins to make. With designed mRNA, in theory, we can control this process and create any desired protein - such as antibodies for immunization, enzymes to reverse rare diseases, or growth factors to repair damaged heart tissue. Kona told China Newsweek that since the 1990s, scientists have tried to apply mRNA technology to diseases
Edit： Responsible editor：Zhou Shu
Source：chinanews.com.cn
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