A pioneering therapeutic cancer vaccine, funded publicly by the Medical Research Council (MRC), has been given to a patient in the UK for the first time, marking a significant milestone in the development of personalised cancer treatment.
The vaccine, tailored specifically to match the unique genetic changes found within the tumour of patient Chris Jones, is being studied as part of an early-stage clinical trial.
Chris, who lives in Hoylake on the Wirral, has advanced lung cancer that has only partially responded to standard immunotherapy. Clinicians hope the vaccine will strengthen her immune system’s ability to seek out and attack tumour cells throughout her body, extending the benefits of her treatment.
About the Trial
The trial, known as NEOVACC, is funded by the MRC and will involve ten participants living with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. It is being overseen by clinicians and scientists at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC) and the University of Liverpool, including the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre.
Non-small cell lung cancer is diagnosed in around 50,000 people in the UK each year, and affects roughly two million people worldwide, making it the third most common cancer globally. The trial’s primary aims are to assess the vaccine’s safety and to look for early evidence that it can trigger an immune response against the disease.
The Science Behind the Vaccine
Computational technology, developed by biopharmaceutical company myNEO, is used to identify which specific tumour targets the immune system should be directed against, in order to strengthen the body’s anti-tumour response. These targets are then manufactured into the vaccine using an innovative, cell-free method to produce what is known as “doggybone DNA” (dbDNA™), a process that allows personalised vaccine components to be made more quickly, and at lower cost, than through traditional manufacturing methods.
Chris’s Story
Chris was referred for tests last year by her GP after experiencing a persistent cough and breathlessness. Given that both her father and grandfather had died from lung cancer, her fears were realised when she received the same diagnosis. After standard immunotherapy failed to bring the disease under control, she was offered a place on the NEOVACC trial.
Chris runs a gelato and coffee shop, Churn & Chill, with her daughter Phoebe, and has continued working throughout her treatment. Her eldest daughter, Alex, died in 2016 from breast cancer at the age of 26, having spent her final years raising funds for cancer research and working with the charity CoppaFeel! to promote awareness of self-checking for early cancer diagnosis.
Reflecting on her decision to join the trial, Chris said her daughter’s fundraising work had taught her the importance of research in the fight against cancer, so she did not hesitate when offered the chance to take part. She said that if the treatment might extend her own life, she was willing to be involved, and that the possibility of helping others in future made the decision even easier. Chris added that although this type of research remains at an early stage, it could eventually broaden the range of treatments available to patients, and expressed hope that future patients with the type of breast cancer her daughter had might one day benefit from similar approaches, given that Alex was never able to take part in a clinical trial herself.
Chris received her first dose of the vaccine at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool, delivered using PharmaJet’s Stratis system, a needle-free injection technology designed to improve the vaccine’s performance by optimising its delivery into muscle tissue. She is expected to receive further doses over the coming months, alongside her standard immunotherapy treatment.
Public Funding Behind the Breakthrough
The trial has been supported by a £2.66 million grant from the MRC’s Proof of Concept scheme. Sophie Mountcastle, the MRC’s Translation Programme Manager, said the treatment of the first UK patient demonstrated what public investment through the MRC could achieve. She explained that the trial is developing a therapeutic vaccine intended to stimulate the immune system to recognise and attack tumour cells based on each patient’s unique genetic profile, offering a potential new option for patients who do not respond fully to existing immunotherapies. Mountcastle added that by bringing together researchers, NHS clinicians and industry partners, the MRC is helping translate scientific discoveries into new treatments, while advancing the next generation of personalised cancer care.
The foundations for the breakthrough were laid through earlier MRC-funded research into DNA-based cancer vaccines, carried out in collaboration with Touchlight Genetics. The dbDNA technology itself is supplied by UK-based Touchlight, a leading provider of synthetic DNA, which uses enzymes to amplify DNA efficiently in laboratory conditions, simplifying the production process. Researchers at CCC believe this technology could, in future, play a key role in enabling personalised cancer vaccines to be produced at scale.
Researchers Optimistic About Wider Impact
The study is led by Professor Christian Ottensmeier, a Consultant Oncologist at CCC, and Professor Natalia Savelyeva, both based at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology.
Professor Ottensmeier said the personalised approach could offer hope to patients for whom standard immunotherapy has not been fully effective, by helping the immune system recognise and target parts of the tumour that had previously gone undetected. He said he hoped the research would contribute to new thinking around the use of cancer vaccines in advanced lung cancer, and expressed enthusiasm about the potential of doggybone DNA technology to reduce both the speed and cost of producing such therapies in future.
Professor Savelyeva described the study as particularly exciting, noting that, if successful, the strategy could benefit more than half of patients with advanced lung cancer, and potentially those with other cancer types as well.
Dr Jill Makin, Chief Scientific Officer at Touchlight Genetics, said the company was pleased to be working with Professors Ottensmeier and Savelyeva, adding that doggybone DNA technology offers an effective way to deliver rapid, personalised vaccines to a large group of patients with an unmet clinical need, as well as to other patients living with solid cancers.
Source: UKRI
