Millions of lives could be saved by a revolutionary series of new vaccines against a range of diseases, including cancer, scientists say.

Moderna, the pharmaceutical company behind the coronavirus vaccine, is developing cancer vaccines that target different types of tumors.

Research on these vaccines also shows “tremendous promise” with some researchers saying 15 years of progress “unfolded” in 12 to 18 months thanks to the success of the Covid vaccine.

Dr. Paul Barton, chief medical officer of pharmaceutical company Moderna, believes that the company will be able to offer such treatment for “diseases of all kinds” in just five years.

“We will have this vaccine, it will be very effective and will save many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives. I believe that we will be able to offer people around the world personalized cancer vaccines for many different types of tumors, ”said the doctor. Barton talking to the Guardian.

He also said that multiple respiratory infections will be covered by one vaccine, which means that vulnerable groups will be protected from coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with a single injection. In addition, mRNA technology-based treatments will be available to treat rare diseases for which there are currently no cures.

An mRNA-based therapy “shows” cells how to make a protein, which in turn activates the body’s immune response against disease.

“I think we will have mRNA-based treatments for rare diseases that have so far been untreatable, and I think In 10 years, you will actually be able to determine the genetic cause of the disease. and – relatively easy – to “fix” the problem using mRNA-based technology,” the doctor said. Burton.

But scientists warn that the accelerated progress made over the past three years will be lost if high levels of research funding are not maintained.

How the cancer vaccine will work

A cancer vaccine based on mRNA technology would “alert” the immune system of a tumor already developing in the patient’s body so that it could attack and destroy it without destroying healthy cells.

Doctors first take a biopsy of a patient’s tumor and send it to a lab where the genetic material is analyzed to look for mutations not found in healthy cells.

The machine learning algorithm then determines which of these mutations are responsible for the development of cancer. Over time, it also learns which parts of the abnormal proteins encoded by these mutations are most likely to elicit an immune response. The mRNA is then created and “plugged” into the vaccine dose.

“Over the past few months, we have learned that mRNA was not only for infectious diseases or only for Covid-19“, – said Barton and added that now “it can be applied to all kinds of diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, rare diseases. We have research in all these areas, and all of them have great promise.”

Source: Guardian