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22nd March 2024
01:36pm GMT
Scientists are creating the world's first lung cancer vaccine which would prevent the disease in people who are at high risk.
Researchers at the University of Oxford, the Francis Crick Institute and University College London (UCL) are working on the 'LungVax', which would activate the immune system to kill cancer cells and stop lung cancer.
The vaccine has been developed using technology similar to the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Sky News reports.
It works by using a strand of DNA which teaches the immune system to recognise and kill "red flag" proteins in lung cancer cells, called neoantigens.
Neoantigens appear on cells when cancer-causing mutations are taking place within the cell's DNA.
The research team has been granted up to £1.7m in funding by Cancer Research UK and the CRIS Cancer Foundation to manufacture 3,000 doses of the vaccine.
Roughly 48,500 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK, with almost three quarters of these caused by smoking, according to Cancer Research UK.
The charity's chief executive, Michelle Mitchell, has described LungVax as a "really important step forward."
She said: "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 free from the fear of cancer.
"We're in a golden age of research and this is one of many projects which we hope will transform lung cancer survival."
The vaccine is currently being trialled in a lab setting. If it can show that it triggers an immune response, then it will move to a clinical trial.
If this shows positive results, the aim will be to expand the trials to people at high risk of lung cancer.
Those in the high risk category are smokers between the ages of 55 and 74 and those who qualify for targeted lung health checks in parts of the UK.
Professor Mariam Jamal-Hanjani of UCL and the Francis Crick Institute said early predictions show the vaccine could cover around 90 per cent of all lung cancers.
But she warned that the vaccine will "not replace stopping smoking as the best way to reduce your risk of lung cancer."
Lola Manterola, president of the CRIS Cancer Foundation, said the study was "groundbreaking."
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