The same mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines could help ...

Bobby Fentress learned about messenger RNA months before the rest of the world.About a year before Fentress got his double shots of COVID-19 vaccine made with mRNA, the painting contractor was infused with a personalized version to fight his cancer.Fentress, 68, was an early participant in a clinical trial intended to see whether a vaccine made with the same technology used to prevent COVID-19 could boost the immune system enough to search out and destroy lingering cancer cells.Companies like Moderna and Pfizer's partner BioNTech, whose names are familiar from COVID-19 vaccines, are using mRNA to spur cancer patients' bodies to make vaccines that will – they hope – prevent recurrences and treatments designed to fight off advanced tumors.If they prove effective, which won't be known for at least another year or two, they could be added to the arsenal of immune therapies designed to get the body to fight off its own tumors. "That would be just a remarkable step for all of us."At the moment, most of the mRNA cancer vaccine trials are targeting tumors such as melanoma and kidney cancer, where drugs called checkpoint inhibitors have already made a significant difference for many patients."My hope is that if we're successful, we'll be able to move into more tumor types where checkpoints haven't been as successful," said Meredith McKean, Fentress' oncologist at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville.Fentress, of nearby Goodlettsville, Tennessee, thought he had a wart back in the summer of 2019 when he first noticed the odd bump on the middle finger of his left hand. Once a tumor has been largely removed through surgery, a vaccine can help generate new immune soldiers known as T cells."The T cells will outnumber (cancer cells) and will be able to control them," Türeci said.Plus, a treatment soon after surgery may be able to prevent the tumor from outmaneuvering the body's immune defenses, she said.As with Fentress, surgical samples or a biopsy are sent to a lab where a patient's cancer cells are compared with healthy ones.A computer algorithm analyzes the mutations distinct to the cancer cells, looking for ones that trigger the production of T cells, said Melissa J. And while a few errant cancer cells are very diverse, once a tumor has spread throughout the body, it tends to develop consistent mutations, Türeci said.So the companies also are developing treatments that can be premade and 'taken off the shelf' when a patient needs them.Mutated cancer cells have proteins on their surface that can be targeted by an mRNA vaccine. "Having had the opportunity to show with the COVID vaccine that mRNA as such works is also very encouraging."It's the promise of helping cancer patients that keeps her going."We will not surrender," Türeci said.Fentress and his wife caught COVID-19 right after getting their first dose of vaccine.Luckily, after quarantining for 10 days, both were fine.They had to reschedule their second shots, but they got them a few weeks later.