mRNA vaccines show promise against pancreatic cancer in early trial  

Personalized mRNA vaccines show promise as a pancreatic cancer treatment, according to a small, early stage trial published Wednesday.

Personalized mRNA vaccines show promise as pancreatic cancer treatment, a phase 1 clinical trial published Wednesday in Nature found. 

Fewer than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it one of the deadliest types of cancer. That is, in part, because around 90% of cases are diagnosed when the disease is already advanced. 

Pancreatic cancer cells also spread to other parts of the body much earlier on than in other cancers, which typically spread only when the original tumors are large. The disease typically doesn’t cause symptoms until later stages and there isn’t a routine screening for this cancer, such as a mammogram or colonoscopy. 

Once it’s detected, there are few effective treatments. 

“Although we have made significant progress in improving outcomes in many of the other cancers with newer waves of cancer treatments, these have not had much of an impact in pancreatic cancer,” said Dr. Vinod Balachandran, director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who led the trial. “Survival rate has remained about 10% despite our best current treatments.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/pancreatic-cancer-vaccine-mrna-treatment-trial-rcna192702

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