There is a new and exciting development in the world of lung cancer. As most of you know, lung cancer is the most common cancer to be diagnosed and kills more people than breast, prostate or colorectal cancer combined each year. I really do not know why it does not get more attention in the media, particularly like we see for colorectal and breast cancer.
The news I want to pass on today is about a grant from the United Kingdom to the University of Oxford for 2 years of research and the initial manufacture of 3000 doses of a DNA-based vaccine against lung cancer. The current name for this vaccine is LungVax.
This potentially new way to prevent lung cancer was developed using similar technology to that used to create one type of the Covid-19 vaccine that uses a so-called viral vector. A virus will carry a strand of DNA that will train the immune system to recognize the antigens on the lung cancer cells and then activate our immune system cells to kill the tumor cells and stop the cancer.
The success of this vaccine could mean significant benefit to those at high risk for lung cancer or its recurrence. Smoking cessation is still the best preventive measure for those at risk for lung cancer but, for those who may have had a surgery and felt to be at high risk for recurrence, a vaccine could significantly increase the possibility of cure.
