According to the State News Agency TASS, Russia claims to have developed a new mRNA vaccine for cancer. The vaccine is slated for public release in early 2025 and will be available free of charge.
Andrey Kaprin, General Director of the Russian Ministry of Health’s Radiology Medical Research Center, “Russia has produced its own mRNA vaccine against cancer; it will be provided to patients free of charge,” he told Radio Rossiya.
Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, pre-clinical studies indicate the vaccination prevents the formation of tumours and the spread of cancer. “Pre-clinical testing of the vaccine has demonstrated that it reduces tumour formation and potential metastasis,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin alluded to advancements in the creation of a cancer vaccine earlier this year. Gintsburg also talked about how artificial intelligence may expedite the development of customized cancer vaccinations, possibly cutting the time down to less than an hour. “Now, it takes quite a while to develop [specific vaccinations] since, in mathematical terms, matrix methods are used to compute how a vaccine, or tailored mRNA, should look.” In order to do this math, we have enlisted the help of the Ivannikov Institute, which will use artificial intelligence (AI), specifically neural network computing. These procedures should take between thirty minutes to an hour.
How the mRNA vaccination functions
A weakened or inactivated virus (or other pathogen) is traditionally introduced into the body as part of vaccines in order to elicit an immune response.
In contrast, mRNA vaccines function by delivering genetic instructions that enable the body’s cells to produce a specific cancer protein, known as an antigen. This process trains the immune system to recognize and create antibodies against the protein.
When the same antigens are detected on tumour cells, the immune system launches an attack against them, targeting the cancer.
Unlike COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, which are designed to target a single antigen—the spike protein of the coronavirus—cancer mRNA vaccines focus on multiple antigens found on the surface of tumour cells.
These mRNA cancer vaccines are personalized, teaching each patient’s immune system to combat their unique cancer. Most current trials involve creating custom vaccines tailored to the specific antigens identified on an individual’s tumour. Producing such a personalized vaccine typically takes about two months.
-Raja Aditya
