In March 2024 the University of Oxford announced that researchers from the university, the Francis Crick Institute, and University College London have been granted £1.7 million funding from Cancer Research UK and the CRIS Cancer Foundation to develop a lung cancer vaccine. The vaccine, ‘LungVax’ uses technology like that used to develop the “highly successful” Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The team is set to receive funding for a study over 2 years to support lab research and initial manufacturing of 3,000 doses at the Oxford Clinical BioManufacturing Facility.
The burden of lung cancer
Each year there are around 48,500 cases of lung cancer in the UK. 72% of lung cancers are caused by smoking, the biggest preventable cause of cancer worldwide. Professor Tim Elliot, Kidani Professor of Immuno-oncology and research lead for the project, described cancer as “a disease of our own bodies”.
“It’s hard for the immune system to distinguish between what’s normal and what’s cancer. Getting the immune system to recognise and attack cancer is one of the biggest challenges in cancer research today.”
Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford and founder of the LungVax project is Sarah Blagden, who emphasises that “anti-cancer treatments are more likely to be successful” when deployed “at its earliest stages”.
“We are developing a vaccine to stop the formation of lung cancer in people at high risk. This is an important step forward in preventing this devastating disease.”
Professor Mariam Jamal-Hanjani from University College London and the Francis Crick Institute will be leading the trial and commented that “fewer than 10% of people with lung cancer survive their disease for 10 years of more”.
“That must change. This research complements existing efforts through lung health checks to detect lung cancer earlier in people who are at greatest risk. We think the vaccine could cover around 90% of all lung cancers, based on our computer models and previous research, and this funding will allow us to take the vital first steps towards trials in patients.”
While LungVax “will not replace stopping smoking as the best way to reduce your risk of lung cancer” it could be a “viable route to preventing some of the earliest stage cancers” before they emerge.
Tackling lung cancer
The LungVax vaccine carries a strand of DNA that trains the immune system to recognise neoantigens on abnormal cells, activating the immune system to kill these cells and stop lung cancer. The study will test the vaccine in the lab to see if it triggers an immune response. If this works, the vaccine will progress to clinical trial, after which the vaccine could be scaled up to bigger trials for “people at high risk of lung cancer”. This could include people between the ages of 55 and 74 who are current smokers or previously smoked, and currently qualify for targeted lung health checks in some parts of the UK.
Professor Elliot hopes that the technology that “proved itself in the COVID-19 pandemic” can “deliver an off-the-shelf vaccine”.
“If we can replicate the kind of success seen in trials during the pandemic, we could save the lives of tens of thousands of people every year in the UK alone.”
An exciting future
Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, hopes that the “science that successfully steered the world out of the pandemic could soon be guiding us toward a future where people can live longer, better lives” without the “fear of cancer”.
“Projects like LungVax are a really important step forward into an exciting future, where cancer is much more preventable. We’re in a golden age of cancer research and this is one of many projects which we hope will transform lung cancer survival.”
President of CRIS Cancer Foundation, Lola Manterola, describes the “crucial moment in the history of cancer research and treatment”.
“For the first time, technology and knowledge of the immune system are allowing us to take the first steps towards preventing cancer. This groundbreaking study represents a firm step in that direction, and we at CRIS consider it essential to support it.”
For more on cancer strategies with vaccine technology, why not join us at the Congress in Washington this April by getting your tickets here, or subscribe to our newsletters here?
