Glioblastoma is the most common type of cancer in the human brain. According to statistics, only a small number of patients who are successfully treated will be able to live after five years because glioblastoma will return. Researchers from the University of Florida have conducted clinical trials of a glioblastoma vaccine on humans after it showed positive responses in mice and dogs in laboratory tests.
The vaccine was developed using mRNA technology which is very effective after being used in the Covid-19 vaccine produced by BioNTech. In a clinical trial conducted on four patients, the mRNA vaccine was injected into the body. Each vaccine is unique to the patient because it is produced based on their brain tumor sample.
Within 48 hours only, the tumor on the recipient's body begins to be attacked by the patient's immune system. This is a good sign that the body can be instructed to attack the tumor itself. It is still too early to say if this vaccine is really effective in treating and then preventing glioblastoma from coming back.
After the completion of the first phase clinical trials, the second phase will be conducted on 24 patients to see the safe and optimal dose levels in the human body.
This is just one of several cancer vaccines being developed around the world. Amazon, Moderna, Oxford University and Russia have also announced efforts to develop a vaccine that claims 10 million lives every year. Dr Ugur Sahin and Dr Ozlem Tureci, the two scientists who created the Comirnaty BioNTech vaccine believe that a vaccine for cancer will become a reality before 2030.