They discover a bacterial vaccine that fights cancer in mice and stops metastasis.

Unpublished. Spectacular. Unprecedented. This could be a summation of the feat accomplished by a group of researchers from Columbia University. Yeah we’re talking about creation bacterial vaccine which teaches the immune system destroy cancer cells.

According to a study published this week in the journalNature‘, this discovery opens the door to a new class of personalized vaccines against primary tumors and metastases that could prevent future returns.

The main aspect of treatment

According to information provided during the study, the vaccine has demonstrated its ability border and even eliminate primary and metastatic tumors in mouse models of advanced colorectal cancer and melanoma. So, the main point of treatment is that does not affect healthy body tissues.

“Advantage most important our system lies in its unique ability to coordinate the restructuring and activation of all branches of the immune system to induce a productive antitumor immune response. We believe this is why the system works so good in advanced models of solid tumors that are particularly difficult to treat with other immunotherapies,” he explained. Andrew Redentidoctoral student at Columbia University.

According to experts, the vaccine is adapted to every patientbecause tumors have unique genetic mutations. As stated Nicholas Arpaiawho is conducting the investigation together with Tal DaninoBy programming bacteria to recognize these mutations, it is possible to develop therapies that prompt the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells.

More details

That being said, it’s worth noting that the researchers estimated that the vaccine could prevent tumors if administered before cancer develops, it can prevent relapses in cured mice. These results undoubtedly suggest that the treatment may not only treat existing tumors, but also prevent cancer comes back after remission.

Creating a vaccine for human patients will require subsequence tumors to identify specific neoantigens. Bacteria would then be engineered to generate these neoantigens and train the immune system to attack them. This will destroy cancer cells and prevent metastasis. As if that weren’t enough, vaccines are designed to counter the ability of cancer to quickly mutate and evade treatment.