2024 was ‘year of the cancer vaccine’ – top experts explain breakthroughs

Cancer experts have hailed 2024 as the “year of the cancer vaccine” in celebration of an explosion of progress offering hope to millions of patients worldwide.

They have predicted “a groundswell of change coming” after vaccine research was dramatically accelerated by the pandemic and trials began recruiting thousands of British volunteers.

Cancer Research UK said more products and projects than ever before were receiving funding, meaning vaccines for the disease were “going through a renaissance”.

The charity’s director of research, Dr Catherine Elliott, explained: “We’ve seen a significant number of presentations at conferences, new targets being identified, some really exciting trial results that have come out.

“Then the investment from Moderna and BioNTech in the UK, in the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, really emphasised the commitment of the industry and pharmaceutical companies to developing these vaccines.

“Very few new, innovative treatments will get to patients without that commercial investment alongside funding from people like ourselves.

“All of that has been very exciting and we’re seeing this increasing interest coming through in new targets and opportunities.”

Cancer vaccines such as the HPV jab aim to prevent it developing altogether. But research is now also advancing into vaccines that can prevent the disease recurring after treatment.

Cancer develops when cells start growing abnormally and the body fails to identify and remove them. Tumour cells almost always have unusual proteins and markers on their surfaces.

Dr Elliott said: “The benefit of this is we can then identify those and prime the immune system so it does recognise those particular abnormal proteins.That’s how, in essence, the mRNA vaccines work.

“They put the code for those abnormal proteins into the body and that enables the immune system to mount a pretty strong response, usually through cells called T cells that can then attack those abnormal cells and remove the cancer.”

Covid vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna harnessed messenger RNA (mRNA) to train the immune system. The same technique is now being used in several promising cancer vaccines.

These include one for bowel cancer – made by BioNTech – which has now started an NHS trial recruiting thousands of patients.

Such techniques offer hope that, in the years to come, vaccines may become a common part of cancer treatment to cut risk of recurrence.

Dr Elliott added: “That’s certainly the focus of a lot of research at the moment. That might lead to a world where, whilst people might still get cancer, you could hopefully treat it through much more straightforward means and then have a vaccine to prevent recurrence of the cancer.”

Meanwhile, the phenomenal success of the HPV jab was highlighted in May when a study found rates of cervical cancer had fallen by 90% among those who received it.

Dr Elliott said it was “a fantastic story – from the linking of that virus with cervical and other cancers in the 1980s to now having a vaccine and a 90% reduction in cervical cancer rates in women in their 20s who were offered that vaccine as 12-13 year-olds.

“That’s an incredible shift. When we look at interventions for cancer, it’s rare to think of something that has had such an impact.”

Cancer Research UK continues to fund research into preventative vaccines, including a team at the University of Oxford developing OvarianVax.

They are looking for proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells which could be targeted.

Project leader Professor Ahmed Ahmed said: “Teaching the immune system to recognise the very early signs of cancer is a tough challenge.

“But we now have highly sophisticated tools which give us real insights into how the immune system recognises ovarian cancer.”

Another team at the Oxford Cancer Vaccine Hub is working on the world’s first vaccine to prevent lung cancer in current or former smokers.

And other scientists are investigating whether a vaccine could reduce risk in people with Lynch Syndrome.

Around 175,000 people in the UK live with the genetic disorder, which makes it harder for their bodies to repair mistakes when DNA copies itself. They have a roughly 75% lifetime risk of cancer.

It is hoped that vaccines could target several mutations occurring in the most common cancers associated with Lynch syndrome.

Study leader David Church, an associate professor at Oxford University, said: “It is estimated that less than 5% of people with Lynch syndrome are aware that they have the condition.

“Yet it accounts for an estimated 1,300 cases of bowel cancer and increases the risk of other types of cancer in this population in the UK.

“We’re pleased to have started work on exploring whether Lynch Syndrome-related cancers can be prevented through vaccination, allowing people living with the condition to live longer, better lives free from the fear of cancer.”

Alongside vital charity funding, Britain has attracted significant investment from some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including BioNTech and Moderna.

Dr Elliott said the UK science sector “punches well above our weight” with some truly world-leading experts and research institutions.

She added: “The other big advantage the UK has over many other countries is the NHS. We have a system that can recruit people into clinical trials and we have people very willing to take part.”

The NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad aims to provide up to 10,000 UK patients with personalised cancer vaccines by 2030.

However, Cancer Research UK has warned that hard-won medical advances could be put at risk by a projected £1bn funding shortfall for research into the disease over the next decade.

Dr Elliot said her hopes for 2025 were that some of the later-stage vaccine trials now under way would report early results.

She added: “And I’m excited to see what’s next for our funding, particularly the LungVax work which is getting near to being ready for early-stage trials.

“I think we’re going to start to see more evidence about the real-world benefits of these vaccines. More broadly the other thing that’s really exciting is the work we’re doing on earlier detection of cancer.

“The work we’re doing on vaccines to understand what’s abnormal about cancer will also help us to find ways to find those cells earlier, perhaps through blood tests.

“So we can find cancers earlier and then have effective ways of treating them – that’s potentially a game-changer.”