Moderna announced this week that its new vaccine showed promising results in clinical trials.
In 157 patients with advanced melanoma, the vaccine "led to a statistically significant improvement in survival to cancer recurrence," according to a statement from the John Theor Cancer Center in Hackensack Meridian, New Jersey, which is participating in the clinical trial.
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Immunotherapy is effective in about half of cancer patients, but in the other half, tumor proteins are not delivered sufficiently to the immune system to be detected and destroyed, Pecora said.
"In this case, the melanoma is hidden or doesn't express the proteins well, so the immune system doesn't recognize the proteins as foreign," Pecora said in a phone interview with Fox News Digital.
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That means a universal cancer vaccine won't work for everyone, Pecora said.
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With the new vaccine, scientists take a section of a person's tumor and identify which parts of the tumor's DNA are mutated or mutated, then create a custom mRNA vaccine that targets the altered parts of the DNA.
The vaccine is now entering phase three trials as researchers work to determine how and when it will receive FDA approval.
Study participants reported no side effects beyond experiencing immunotherapy, Pecora said.
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"It could be approved within the next year or two," he predicted.
It is hoped that this progress will be applied to other forms of cancer besides melanoma.
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Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, grows rapidly and can spread to any organ.
According to the Melanoma Research Foundation, approximately 187,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2023.
More than 97,600 of them will be diagnosed with invasive melanoma, and 7,990 Americans are expected to die from the disease in 2023.
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