Experimental mRNA vaccine cuts risk melanoma returns by 42%

Ziad M. El-Zaatari/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

When the news arrived in August that what could be the first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine had succeeded in a late-stage clinical trial in melanoma, oncologists and the public alike were exhilarated. And that was before its makers had even disclosed just how well the therapy worked.

Now they have. The experimental vaccine, combined with the approved drug Keytruda, reduced the risk that patients’ cancer came back after surgery or that they died by 42% compared with Keytruda alone, opening up a path for an entirely new way to treat the disease.

“This new vaccine is something that we’ve never really seen before in terms of the efficacy that it has demonstrated and the way that it works,” Dr. Michael Postow, chief of the melanoma service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told CNN.

The results are set to be presented Saturday in Madrid at a European Society for Medical Oncology meeting. Merck, the developer of the experimental vaccine along with Moderna, released the data early, on Thursday, after reports that they’d been published online and then taken down.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Ziad M. El-Zaatari/科学图片库/盖蒂图片社

8月份，当首个个性化mRNA癌症疫苗在黑色素瘤后期临床试验中取得成功的消息传来时，肿瘤学家和公众都感到无比振奋。而当时，研发人员甚至还没有公布该疗法的具体疗效。

现在他们做到了。这种实验性疫苗与已获批准的药物Keytruda联合使用，与单独使用Keytruda相比，使患者术后癌症复发或死亡的风险降低了42%，为治疗这种疾病开辟了一条全新的道路。

“这种新疫苗在疗效和作用方式方面是我们以前从未见过的，”纪念斯隆-凯特琳癌症中心黑色素瘤科主任迈克尔·波斯托博士告诉 CNN。

研究结果将于周六在马德里举行的欧洲肿瘤内科学会会议上公布。默克公司（与莫德纳公司共同研发该实验性疫苗）在周四提前发布了数据，此前有报道称这些数据已在网上发布后又被删除。

这是一则正在更新的新闻。