A pioneering therapeutic cancer vaccine has been administered to a UK patient for the first time, marking an early step in a publicly funded trial designed to personalise treatment for advanced lung cancer. The study, supported by the Medical Research Council, is testing a vaccine built to match the unique genetic changes found in an individual patient’s tumour.
Personalised treatment enters a new phase
The first participant, Chris Jones, lives in Hoylake on the Wirral and has advanced non-small cell lung cancer that has only partially responded to standard immunotherapy. Researchers hope the tailored vaccine will help her immune system recognise tumour cells more effectively and attack them, potentially extending the benefit of treatment.
The trial will involve ten participants with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and is being overseen by clinicians and scientists at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and the University of Liverpool, including the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre. The aim is to assess safety and look for early signs that the vaccine may trigger an immune response against the disease.
How the vaccine is being made
Advanced computational technologies developed by biopharmaceutical company myNEO are being used to identify tumour targets for the immune system. Those targets are then manufactured into a vaccine using a cell-free method that produces DNA known as “doggybone DNA” (dbDNA). Researchers say the approach is intended to speed up production and lower costs compared with more traditional methods.
Jones received her first round of the vaccine at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool using PharmaJet’s Stratis system, a needle-free injection. Further doses will follow over several months alongside standard immunotherapy treatment.
Public funding backs the trial
The Medical Research Council provided a £2.66 million grant through its Proof of Concept scheme to support the work. The council said the trial reflects what public investment can achieve when researchers, NHS clinicians and industry partners work together to translate scientific discoveries into potential new treatments.
Professor Christian Ottensmeier, the trial’s chief investigator, said the personalised approach could offer hope to patients for whom standard immunotherapy has not fully worked. Professor Natalia Savelyeva said the study could, if successful, eventually benefit more than half of patients with advanced lung cancer, and possibly those with other types of cancer as well.
The partnership behind the study also includes NHS Blood and Transplant, the GCP Laboratory team, GenomeScan, myNEO Therapeutics and PharmaJet. Researchers believe the technology could one day help deliver personalised vaccines at scale for patients with unmet clinical need.
The first UK patient receiving this bespoke cancer vaccine is being described as an important proof of concept for a treatment model that aims to match therapy more closely to the biology of an individual tumour. While the trial is still at an early stage, it adds to growing interest in personalised cancer medicine and the role of publicly funded research in bringing it closer to patients.
Source: UKRI / MRC
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