Cancer patients in the United Kingdom they will receive one breakthrough mRNA vaccine which, according to researchers, helps the body recognize and fight cancer cells. The first patients have already received the vaccine mRNA-4359 by Moderna in a phase 1/2 clinical trial.

This particular vaccine is among those that target specific types of cancer more broadly and can be produced much more quickly and easily. The new treatment uses genetic material known as messenger RNA – or mRNA – and it works by introducing common markers from tumors into the patient’s immune system. The goal is to help it recognize and fight cancer cells that express these markers.

The primary goal of the new test – known as Mobilize – is to find out if this particular type of mRNA treatment is safe and tolerated by cancer patients lung or his skin and whether it can shrink their tumors.

Some patients will receive the vaccine alone while others will receive it in combination with the cancer drug pembrolizumab.

The researchers they hope that may eventually lead to a new treatment option for difficult-to-treat cancersas long as it proves safe and effective.

“New mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies train the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer”, said Dr. David Pinato of Imperial College London, a researcher on the UK arm of the trial.

Pinato stated that this research is still at an early stage and may take years before it becomes available to a larger number of patients. However, the new trial lays critical groundwork that could help develop less toxic and more precise new cancer treatments.

“We desperately need them to turn the tide against cancer”he added.

Vaccines against cancer tested in clinical trials around the world.

These are divided into two categories: personalized immunotherapies, which are based on extracting the patient’s own genetic material from their tumor – and therapeutic immunotherapies, which are tailored to target a specific type of cancer.