“Oropharyngeal Cancer Vaccine and Research Initiatives Against Lung Cancer and Melanoma”

A oropharyngeal cancer vaccine It has been administered for several months in Malaga and at the end of the year they will begin to put others against lung cancer and melanoma; the latter is the most aggressive skin tumor. These research initiatives are carried out with all the guarantees for patients since they are carried out within clinical trials and are paid for by the Regional and Clinical Intercenter Medical Oncology Unit.

The patients recruited for the oropharyngeal cancer vaccine are treated in the Hospital Regional. There are four of them and they are included in a worldwide clinical trial with 180 patients. Of those who participate in Malaga, two receive only the usual treatment and the other two also receive the vaccine. They seem few, but the milestone they can mark is very big. “That out of 180 patients worldwide [en el ensayo clínico] there are four in Malaga is a lot”, pointed out the president of the technical committee of the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC) and head of Medical Oncology at the Regional Hospital, Antonio Rueda. The specialist clarified that although the patients belong to the Regional, the clinical trial is from the Intercentre Unit that forms this hospital with the Virgen de la Victoria.

The vaccine against this cancer is one of the so-called messenger RNA, like that of Covid. It consists of injecting a tumor protein that, being a foreign element to the body, activates the defenses of the immune system so that they fight against malignant cells. This international study began shortly before the pandemic, led by the pharmaceutical BioNTech. But precisely because of the coronavirus crisis, it stopped. So it actually kicked off a little over a year ago.

The importance of the vaccine is not trivial. Oropharyngeal cancer is one of those that is registering a increase in new cases (incidence) due to human papilloma virus (HPV) and the sexual practices of the population, such as oral sex. Each year, 3,300 diagnoses are registered in Spain. “In the Mediterranean area this increase is slower than in others, such as the United States, Sweden or Finland. In these countries, growth is higher than in Spain or Italy. In turn, in Barcelona it increases more than in Málaga”, added Rueda.

To stop the upward trend of oropharyngeal tumors, health administrations resort to vaccines. Some are preventive and already with many years of uselike that of human papilloma virus. This has recently been extended to men as well. Until recently, it was only administered to adolescent girls. The reason was that HPV is responsible for most cervical cancers. But this pathogen is also involved in other tumor processes that men suffer, such as those of the penis. Pediatricians, gynecologists and oncologists had been demanding that coverage be extended to boys for many years. Finally, the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) opted to incorporate HPV immunization free of charge into the vaccination schedule also for men.

On the other hand, the vaccine that is administered in the Regional is still in the clinical trial phase and It is not preventive, but to treat patients. “Actually It is a treatment to awaken the immune system”, explains Rueda. That is, to activate it and fight against cancer cells.

But while the HPV vaccine is administered before the tumor appears in order to prevent it, the oropharyngeal cancer vaccine in the clinical trial in which the Regional participates is given to fight the disease once it has already appeared by activating the immune system’s defenses. organism against malignant cells. So that Some vaccines are preventive and others therapeutic.but both –unlike treatments in which the body does nothing– activate the immune system.

Rueda advanced that at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024, vaccines against melanoma and lung cancer. “In the United States they are giving fantastic results,” said the oncologist.

In the clinical trial, some patients are given only the conventional treatment and others are administered, In addition, the vaccine. That way you can compare the effectiveness of this innovation. Patient safety is guaranteed by including these investigations in clinical trials, which require compliance with very strict legal and clinical requirements and go through phases until they reach their application in humans.

The lung cancer vaccine has already begun to be administered, also under the umbrella of a clinical trial, in the Virgen Macarena Hospital of Seville. The objective, according to experts, is to take advantage of technology called messenger RNA, which has been used against the coronavirus, in this case to combat different types of cancer once they have already appeared.