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How Cancer Vaccines Could Keep Tumors from Coming Back

Nature | Vaccination

How Cancer Vaccines Could Keep Tumors from Coming Back

“Angela Evatt lay face down under anaesthesia as surgeons removed a malignant mole from her back and a lymph node from her left armpit. The purpose of the operation was not only to excise the cancerous tissue from her body, but also to begin the process of crafting a personalized vaccine that would train Evatt’s immune system to attack any tumour cells left behind.

The vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA), carefully constructed to encode the unique mutant proteins, known as neoantigens, that are found on the surface of Evatt’s melanoma skin cancer cells…

As is typical of individual experiences in clinical trials, determining the precise impact of the vaccine on Evatt’s recovery is difficult. ‘It’s impossible to know,’ she says. ‘I’m just happy to be cancer-free.’ However, the trial that Evatt participated in is yielding promising data. According to the latest number-crunch from the 157-person study, the combination of vaccine and checkpoint inhibitor reduces the risk of disease recurrence by nearly 50% compared with treatment with the inhibitor alone. The latest analysis also indicates that the vaccine contributes to lifespan extension.”

From Nature.

Gavi | Vaccination

Immunization Effort to Avert over 605,000 Cervical Cancer Deaths

“By 2023, Gavi had worked with over 40 countries to provide the HPV vaccine to 23.7 million girls. This massive immunisation effort is projected to avert over 605,000 future deaths from cervical cancer, a testament to the vaccine’s life-saving potential.

In 2023 alone, Gavi-supported countries vaccinated more than 14 million girls – more than the total number vaccinated in the previous decade combined. Thanks to an unprecedented scale-up of vaccine introductions, dedicated investment and expanded access since 2023, Gavi is on track to reach its ambitious goal of protecting 86 million girls with the HPV vaccine by 2025, a milestone that is expected to prevent more than 1.4 million future cervical cancer deaths.”

From Gavi.

Our World in Data | Vaccination

Measles Vaccines Save Millions of Lives Each Year

“Measles used to be an extremely common disease. Just sixty years ago, over 90% of children would have been infected by it, and of those who developed symptoms, around a quarter would be hospitalized.

The United States alone had around three to four million cases annually, leading to tens of thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths each year.

However, in 1963, John Enders developed the first effective measles vaccine. Vaccination efforts ramped up rapidly in richer countries, and in the 1970s and 1980s, they were scaled up worldwide.

In just the last fifty years, it’s estimated that measles vaccinations have prevented over ninety million deaths worldwide. Two to three million people would die from measles every year without them.”

From Our World in Data.

Clinical Trials Arena | Vaccination

Stablepharma Begins Trial of “World-First” Fridge-Free Vaccine

“The first patient has been dosed in a Phase I trial of Stablepharma’s tetanus-diphtheria vaccine, which does not need to be refrigerated.

The vaccine candidate, SPVX02, is completely stable at room temperature, and in testing was fully potent after three cycles of extreme temperature fluctuations ranging from -20°C to 40°C.  The candidate has been developed to withstand these temperatures through the company’s StablevaX technology.

In what is being branded a ‘world-first’, the first patient in the trial of SPVX02 was dosed earlier this month at a National Health Service (NHS) site in the UK. The vaccine doses of SPVX02 being used in the Phase I study also have an 18-month shelf life.”

From Clinical Trials Arena.

Ars Technica | Vaccination

New RSV Treatment Linked to Fall in Baby Hospitalizations

“Far fewer babies went to the hospital struggling to breathe from RSV, a severe respiratory infection, after the debut of a new vaccine and treatment this season, according to an analysis published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

For the new study, CDC researchers looked at RSV hospitalization rates across two different RSV surveillance networks of hospitals and medical centers (called RSV-NET and NVSN). They compared the networks’ hospitalization rates in the 2024–2025 RSV season to their respective rates in pre-pandemic seasons between 2018 and 2020. The analysis found that among newborns (0–2 months), RSV hospitalizations fell 52 percent in RSV-NET and 45 percent in NVSN compared with the rates from the 2018–2020 period.”

From Ars Technica.