“A vaccine can eliminate cancer”, the study and hope against cancer

The study data

The results of the trial will be presented tomorrow, Sunday 31 May, in Chicago at the largest cancer congress in the world, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In the study, 102 patients with head and neck cancer – the sixth most common cancer disease – received the injection. The tumors shrank or disappeared completely in 43 patients: 28 of them showed a significant reduction, in 15 people the tumors were completely eradicated.

Tumors treated, how the vaccine works

According to researchers, says the Guardian, the vaccine also showed similar results in patients with lung cancer. Amivantamab, developed by Johnson & Johnson, is currently being evaluated in about 60 clinical trials, primarily for lung cancer, but also for colorectal, brain and stomach cancers. The cancer vaccine works in 3 ways. It blocks EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), a protein that promotes tumor growth, and MET, the ‘road’ that tumor cells often use to evade therapies. The vaccine also helps activate the immune system to attack the tumor.

The researchers highlighted that the study focused on patients with head and neck cancers, thus excluding subjects with HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. This data, according to scientists, is particularly significant: head and neck cancers not caused by HPV are generally more difficult to treat, the progress seen in this group of patients is therefore considered of enormous importance. Patients treated with amivantamab had an average survival of 12.5 months from the start of treatment, despite having a form of cancer with a very poor prognosis.