An experimental vaccine aimed at preventing pancreatic cancer before it forms produced a targeted immune response in 18 of 20 people at high inherited risk, according to first-in-human testing of a mutant KRAS vaccine published in Cancer Discovery.
The finding is a biological signal, not evidence that cancer was prevented. The trial measured whether the vaccine, called mKRAS-VAX, could train the immune system to recognize mutated KRAS protein, and it did. Whether that translates into fewer pancreatic cancers years from now is an entirely separate question this study was never designed to answer.
