A lung cancer patient in the UK has become one of the first to participate in a groundbreaking trial for the world's first vaccine against the disease. A patient in the UK is among the first Europeans to participate in a groundbreaking global trial for a lung cancer vaccine. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, responsible for approximately 1.
8 million deaths in 2020. Of these, nearly a quarter of a million people - around 230 700 - are from the EU alone, representing nearly one in five cancer deaths in the region. The vaccine, known as BNT116 and developed by BioNTech, utilises messenger RNA (mRNA) technology - similar to some COVID-19 vaccines - to help the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells.
The world-first jab is designed to target non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which makes up 85 percent of all lung cancer cases. It works by presenting the patient’s immune system with information about common tumour markers associated with NSCLC. This specific targeting aims to destroy cancer cells while minimising damage to healthy cells, in contrast to the effects of chemotherapy.
“The strength of the approach we are taking is that the treatment is aimed at being highly targeted towards cancer cells. In this way we hope that in time we are able to show that the treatment is effective against lung cancer whilst leaving other tissues untouched,” Dr Sarah Benafif, who is leading the delivery of the study, said in . This groundbreaking study wi.