By: Kate MacDonald

Chances are that cancer has touched the lives of nearly every American. Maybe it’s a suspicious mole that turns out to be a carcinoma, an old high school friend’s social media post raising awareness of the need for mammograms after a scare, or a grandparent who battled lung cancer after years of smoking. As the years go by, studies show that the frequency is increasing. The National Cancer Institute estimated that last year alone, more than two million Americans were diagnosed with a form of cancer, and 600,000 lost their fight. This can be compared to a diagnosis rate of 1.9 million in 2022. Statistics show that the most common types of cancer remain breast, prostate and lung cancer, but one stands out above the rest as having the lowest survival rate.

Tragically, pancreatic cancer has a reputation for being one of the deadliest forms of cancer – it has a notably low survival rate, as it is often not caught until the later stages, and it is a fast-spreading disease. Fewer than 13 percent of individuals live for more than five years after diagnosis. There is also no go-to screening process that has been developed specifically for this form of cancer, which can make detection harder.

But there may be some hope on the horizon for the future, as there is an ongoing clinical trial involving personalized mRNA vaccines treating pancreatic cancer, currently in the first phase. This trial, following an initial 2023 trial, followed sixteen individuals with operable pancreatic cancer, a rare situation, as pancreatic tumors are often inoperable (particularly without chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapies). The trial participants had their tumors removed, and then genetic materials were used to design personalized mRNA vaccines to train the individuals’ immune systems to attack the cancer cells.

Half of the participants responded to the vaccine – half did not. For those with a positive response, the team believes 20 percent of the cancer-fighting T cells would survive for decades and fend off cancer’s return. The next phases of the trials would explore what this may mean for extending a person’s life expectancy.

This is also not the only team working on a pancreatic cancer vaccine – there is a team of scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center working on a non-personalized, off-the-shelf mRNA immunization, which would have a common target for all pancreatic tumors based on a common mutation, called KRAS.

It comes as no surprise that fighting pancreatic cancer can be both emotionally and financially fraught. According to the National Cancer Institute, when caught in an early stage, pancreatic cancer can set a patient back between $30,000 and $100,000. On the other hand, fighting advanced-stage pancreatic cancer tends to run from nearly $62,000 to upwards of $135,000 for life-saving treatments, procedures, and medications. Of course, this cost can vary further depending on severity, duration of treatment, geographic location, insurance coverage, and other factors.

MRNA vaccines are also being looked at as a method of treatment for melanoma, colorectal cancer, and solid tumors. The melanoma vaccine is being spearheaded by Merck and Moderna and came to fruition after lessons learned by the COVID-19 clinical trials. The colorectal cancer vaccine is also still in early stages and is based on targeting the KRAS mutation; early results show promise, according to a study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan Ketting Cancer Center.

A vaccine that has the potential to one day make its way onto the schedule could have a real impact on tens of thousands of Americans’ lives. Not only would this be a gamechanger in terms of access to quality healthcare,  but it could also mean real relief for what may have otherwise been a devastating financial burden.

While cancer vaccines, thankfully, have been in the medical zeitgeist for the past couple of decades (more recently regarding human papillomavirus infections), future developments in this field may provide help on multiple levels for Americans across the country.