He University Hospital and Policy of La Fe and the Consortium of Provincial Hospitals of Castellón have already administered the vaccine is being tested internationally against non-small cell lung cancer, the most common lung tumor and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide.
Oscar Juan, medical oncologist at La Fe Hospital and researcher at IIS La Fe, in statements to Europa Press Television, highlighted the importance of this vaccine since he recalled that approximately 85% of lung cancers diagnosed are non-small cell cancersand that 60% are already diagnosed at the advanced disseminated metastatic stage, that is to say that they are no longer located in the lungs.
THE vaccine which is under study is the BNT116, administered alone or in combination with another medicine, cemiplimabIts aim is to find out whether the combination of two types of immunotherapy is “safe” and “more effective” than the exclusive use of cemiplimab, which forms the basis of current treatment.
“East another type of immunotherapy that seeks to strengthen the immune system“Unlike conventional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which directly attack tumor cells, what we are doing here is strengthening the patient’s defense system so that it is the patient who attacks the tumor cells and eliminates them,” explained this doctor from La. Fe hospital and researcher at IIS La Fe.
This vaccine has a design comparable to that of covid-19 vaccinesthat is to say that It contains six different RNAs against six tumor antigens. “Through a part of the genetic material of a virus, instructions are introduced into the body to produce new immune responses against the tumor by the cells themselves and at the same time increase the existing ones,” explained Dr. Oscar Juan, who specified that it would be a defensive response, an “attack against these antigens.”
The already known high probability of benefit for patients with high expression of a biomarker (PD-1), which was clarified “very effective” And? “The prognosis of lung cancer patients has changed”In addition to this trial, the BNT116 vaccine is being administered, the aim of which is to increase the patient’s immune response.
“The combination of the vaccine with the anti-PDL1, in this case cemiplimab, can increase response options and prolong survival in a subgroup of patients with advanced lung cancer,” the doctor said.
The research is being promoted by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron with the collaboration of BioNTech and is being conducted in 55 centers in Georgia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and Spain.
Conditions for receiving it
In Spain, there are open patient recruitment processes in Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Pamplona and the Valencian Community, especially in La Fe and the IVO of Valencia, as well as in the Provincial Hospital Consortium of Castellón.
To participate in the research, the patient must meet “very specific” requirements defined in the clinical trial, but unlike other studies, this one explores the effectiveness of the treatment in different scenarios: from an advanced stage of the disease (when the cancer has spread outside the lung) to other earlier stages where the possibility of cure is linked to older people.
In total, it is planned to recruit around 100 people with this type of lung cancer worldwide; they will receive BNT116 by intravenous injection and cemiplimab by intravenous infusion every three weeks.
The first La Fe patient was treated in November 2023, and several other patients have since received the vaccine. The investigation is expected to last until 2027.
Dr. Oscar Juan explained that at first this vaccine began to be administered in metastatic patients and now he has highlighted that It will also be used at other stages of the disease. Other scenarios like in patients with more localized disease in the chest, or even in patients who are going to have surgery before the operation or after the operation when there is a visible tumor to eliminate these cells “that we have no mechanism to see if they exist and in the long run they will give us back the appearance of the tumor.”
“We start from the most complex scenarios which would be a disease at a metastatic or disseminated level.to other scenarios where the possibilities of healing are also greater. “If surgery cures, by adding these vaccines we can greatly increase the poetry of healing,” he assured.
