Successful research on "multi-purpose" vaccine against many types of cancer

Scientists at Tufts University in the US have just announced a breakthrough in the fight against cancer: a new vaccine that can trigger a strong immune response, helping the body fight many types of dangerous malignant tumors.

Unlike traditional vaccines that target a specific antigen, this vaccine uses a mixture of protein fragments from solid tumors to stimulate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.

This approach not only generates a strong immune response but also establishes long-term immune memory, which helps reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.

The key to the new cancer vaccine's effectiveness lies in its ability to effectively target tumor antigens to the immune system.

Normally, the process of collecting and presenting antigens to presenting cells such as macrophages or dendritic cells (which can be considered the "police station" of the immune system) is quite slow and inefficient, especially with antigens from tumors.

To overcome this, a team at Tufts University developed a two-step approach to enhance the ability to recognize and activate the immune system.

First, they used the AHCC molecule to “tag” tumor proteins with a special tag called ubiquitin, which immune cells could then easily recognize and process into smaller pieces for presentation to the immune system.

Next, the engineered tumor proteins are “packaged” into tiny lipid particles — designed to travel directly to the lymph nodes, where the highest concentration of antigen-presenting cells is found.

Tests on animals with various cancers including melanoma, triple-negative breast cancer, Lewis lung cancer, and advanced ovarian cancer have shown promising results. The vaccine triggered a strong response from cytotoxic T cells. These cells attack tumors, inhibiting their growth and preventing metastasis.

The vaccine was developed by Tufts University biomedical engineering professor Qiaobing Xu and colleagues, based on previous research on specific antigen expression.

He assessed that this vaccine could play an important role in the "arsenal" against cancer. Combining the vaccine with surgery, chemotherapy and other treatments could significantly improve patient response and prevent cancer recurrence./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nghien-cuu-thanh-cong-vaccine-da-nang-chong-nhieu-loai-ung-thu-post1022537.vnp