Everything we know about Oxford University's 'cancer vaccine' programme
Everything we know about Oxford University's 'cancer vaccine' programme
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Medical breakthroughs like the first Covid-19 vaccine don’t just come from nowhere. Scientists work away learning about the mechanism behind it for years before finally providing the world with a medical intervention which saves millions of lives. That is why Oxford University’s announcement that it is launching a huge project to develop a vaccine that prevents cancer is so exciting.
Throughout our lives our bodies repair mistakes when DNA copies itself as our cells constantly replicate. These mistakes, or mutations, can build up making the cells containing them more likely to transform into cancerous cells. The study of these processes could reveal these previously hidden mutations so we can help our immune system attack these abnormal cells and stop cancer from forming.
Oxford University scientists are already using this approach to start developing a preventative cancer vaccine to help people with a rare condition called Lynch syndrome, who are born with a gene variant that makes it harder for their bodies to repair mistakes when DNA copies itself, and so are at much greater cancer risk.
Now the pioneering GSK-Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme will use similar approaches to develop vaccines to prevent cancers in the rest of the population. Professor Sarah Blagden, co-lead for the joint project with pharmaceutical giant GSK, said research breakthroughs in recent years have made a vaccine against pre-cancer possible. One of which is "detailed microscopy" so cells can be seen in a higher level of magnification, identifying intricate cellular components previously unseeable.
