RE: mRNA cancer vaccines23 Jan 2023 07:11
Violin , interesting piece .. Lofas, it’s mostly stuff that’s been covered before .. mRNA promising but complex and expensive .. however, I did find this section interesting..
“ Identifying the right targets
Creating a cancer vaccine requires taking samples of the patient’s tumour and healthy tissue, sequencing the DNA and RNA and comparing how these sequences vary between the cancerous and healthy cells to try to identify problem mutations that can be used as antigens or vaccine targets.
This is where the challenge begins: how do you identify the most relevant mutations that are really driving the cancer, a process that is notoriously easier said than done?
“The genomics in the tumour cell are chaotic,” says Prof Alan Melcher from the Institute of Cancer Research. “There’s stuff turning into protein that shouldn’t be turning into protein and there are other places where big chunks of DNA just either get dropped out or inserted or turned around. But at the moment, what we’re missing is how you predict the antigens that matter.””
Of course .. scancell has identified some and patented their use in treating cancer ..
Take care and fingers crossed for a good week !