A London hospital will investigate whether a personalised cancer vaccine can prevent bowel cancer from returning.
The trial, at University College London Hospital, will involve patients who have had stage 2 or 3 rectal cancer and had their tumour removed surgically.
All of the patients involved in the study have circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in their blood, which increases the risk of cancer returning.
Personalised vaccines are created by analysing a patient’s tumour or ctDNA to identify mutations that are specific to that one cancer. This information is then used to create an immunotherapy personal to that patient.
Scientists believe that the vaccine, named BNT122, can stimulate the immune system to specifically recognise and destroy the cancer cells expressing the same mutations.
It is hoped this will prevent cancer from returning after the patient has undergone surgery to remove their main tumour.
Bowel cancer recurrence within five years after treatment ends is in the range of 7 to 42 percent, depending on the stage of the cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The study at UCLH is part of NHS England’s Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which is working to fast-track patients to get vaccines at the earliest opportunity.
Thirty hospitals in England are signed up to the initiative, with more to join in the coming months.
According to NHS England, the scheme will work with a range of pharmaceutical companies and could expand to include patients with other cancers such as pancreatic and lung cancer.
Trials have enrolled dozens of people, NHS England said, with the majority expected to take part from 2026 onwards.
The BNT122 vaccine was created by BioNTech, a German biotechnology firm that partnered with Pfizer to create one of the first Covid vaccines.
Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at the NHS, said: “We know that even after a successful operation, cancers can sometimes return because a few cancer cells are left in the body, but using a vaccine to target those remaining cells may be a way to stop this happening.”
