Cancer vaccines: a wealth of promising results and new research avenues

A personalized cancer vaccine developed by Moderna has shown a 42% reduction in recurrence or death risk for advanced melanoma patients. This breakthrough was announced at the ESMO congress in Madrid. Numerous teams worldwide are working on various vaccine approaches targeting different cancers, with over 200 early-phase trials underway. These vaccines can be personalized for individual patients or standardized for broader use. Among the candidates, 40% are protein-based, 17% RNA-based, and 8% DNA-based, with some targeting dendritic cells to enhance immune response against tumor antigens.