How new mRNA technologies are advancing the race for a cancer vaccine

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Updated 28 April 2023
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How new mRNA technologies are advancing the race for a cancer vaccine

  • FII Institute Impact Report sheds light on promising developments in individualized vaccines for cancer patients
  • Thanks to the momentum of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same vaccine technology is currently used in experiments used to fight tumors

JEDDAH: Cancer — one word that can ruin the life of any human being. A word so soul-crushing that it brings disbelief, shock, fear, anger, and can break one’s spirit and the spirits of those around those diagnosed. Medical research has helped scientists develop methods of stopping cancer from metastasizing, but thanks to the momentum of the COVID-19 pandemic, promising new research may help end the battle against cancer.

A recent report released by the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute, entitled “Tumor No More: How Humanity Can Get Rid of Cancer,” has shed light on how mRNA (messenger RNA) technology is proving to be a promising opponent in the fight against cancer. By producing individualized vaccines for cancer patients, the mRNA technology once deemed absurd by the scientific community is starting to gain attention as scientists begin to tap into its potential thanks to the swift delivery of the world’s first mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine three years ago.

“This is one of the best examples of the positive impact that new technologies can have on humanity. And in this report we tried to find out how the mRNA success story might continue,” Richard Attais, CEO of FII Institute, told Arab News.

The job is simple: mRNA’s role is to carry protein information from the DNA of a cell’s nucleus to the cell’s cytoplasm (gelatinous interior). For vaccines, this works by introducing a segment of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a tiny piece of a protein found on a virus’ outer membrane. 

The technology is not new. In early experiments, carrying messages to the intended target was deemed unstable and volatile. But not anymore.

The report’s findings look into how the technology may be used, the challenges of cancer therapy and vaccine studies, and, finally, possible proposals by the authors.




Shutterstock illustration image

Fast forward to 2020: Scientists discovered a substance to tame the unstable messenger using fat chemically. Known as “lipid nanoparticles,” these provide a stable and protective layer around the mRNA and unleash the message once a foreign body enters the human body, such was the case for COVID-19 infections. Then, the mRNA kills the virus’ proteins by building a protein specific to a virus, teaching the immune system how to behave when exposed to a potential threat.

“Capitalizing on the knowledge we gained about the use of mRNA technology during the COVID-19 vaccine’s development, we have an opportunity to address the challenges of equality and fairness now as we look toward the future distribution of a potential cancer vaccine. This is a challenge for humanity,” Safiye Kucukkaraca, head of THINK, FII Institute, told Arab News.




Infographic credit: FII: Cancer Vaccine Fairness Impact Report 2023

So how would this work to battle cancer?

Every cell contains protein, including cancer cells. A 2017 paper published in Nature magazine by BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin, entitled “Personalized RNA Mutanome Vaccines Mobilize Poly-Specific Therapeutic Immunity Against Cancer,” indicated that scientists were able to design and manufacture a vaccine unique to each cancer patient that had been diagnosed with melanoma. The results were auspicious, as the rate of cancer metastasizing was significantly reduced after the start of vaccination. 




BioNtech's CEO Ugur Sahin (R) speaks during a joint press conference with his wife co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech Ozlem Tureci (C) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a BioNTech plant making mRNA-based vaccines and therapies in Marburg, Germany, on February 2, 2023. (AFP)

The only difference is that in COVID-19, mRNA can protect billions of people with one vaccine.

Cancer cells differ in each cancer patient, each with a unique genetic fingerprint. The difficulty lies in manufacturing the vaccine, as personalized mRNA vaccines must be developed for each patient. The process requires looking for a common protein in those cancer cells, constructing an mRNA strand that produces the same protein, creating the unique vaccine, and then vaccinating the patient with the mRNA. The immune system would then develop antibodies against the protein and combat tumor cells in cancer. 

Developing a separate vaccine for each tumor can only be made possible by the development of a reliable and fast technology for decoding genetic material, a method that is currently being tested in several medical labs across the world. 




Infographic credit: FII: Cancer Vaccine Fairness Impact Report 2023

Speed was essential for fighting COVID-19, such was the case with Moderna and BioNTech, two of the first companies to develop the vaccine. Speed will be as crucial for fighting individual cancer cases. Once the targeted structure is identified, the effort required to produce a specific mRNA for that target is relatively minor.

Several cancer vaccine technologies are already used in cancer patients, designed to stimulate the immune system in various ways to attack the tumor cells. The primary forms are protein/peptide-based vaccines, DNA or RNA-based vaccines, dendritic cell therapy, T-cell therapy, and CAR-T-cell therapy, all highly innovative therapeutic options.




Researchers test procedures for the manufacturing of the messenger RNA (mRNA) for the COVID-19 vaccine at a new manufacturing site of German company BioNTech on March 27, 2021 in Marburg, Germany. (Thomas Lohnes / AFP)

The report indicated that several clinical studies, often combined with other cancer therapies, are currently in the works, focusing on patients with advanced-stage melanoma, advanced lung cancer, and brain glioma (tumors that spread in the brain), to name a few. Several published findings showed promising results, whereas others are still forthcoming.

The report stressed the scalability of the technology, adding that it will probably take at least another five years before the first mRNA vaccine against cancer is approved. Though it may seem that it is still a long way off, there is hope for developing “a new and effective weapon.”




Infographic credit: FII: Cancer Vaccine Fairness Impact Report 2023

However, the road ahead is long and challenging.

According to Dr. Niels Halama, a professor of translational immunotherapy at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, “tumor cells have developed a number of very diverse mechanisms to protect themselves.” 

He noted in the report that some tumors grow without the immune system being able to detect them or stop them, raising the question if vaccines alone are enough to reverse the process of detecting them, adding that there are several clinical studies currently that could shed more light on the matter. 

Halama also noted that there are cancers, such as melanoma or lung cancer, that can respond well to immunotherapy.

“A significant proportion of patients respond and we know that the tumor allows the cells of the immune system to enter the tumor microenvironment. So, if you use a therapy that activates the immune system in the right way, you can kill the tumor,” he said, adding that it seems possible that vaccines could alter the response system for other cancers like pancreatic cancer or breast cancer that cannot be treated with immunotherapy.

Though many questions are still unanswered, Halama indicated that due to the COVID-19 vaccines, the structures of how mRNA is processed, packaged, and transferred to the individual have improved, unlike how it was before as molecules are known to having a short lifespan and quick to degrade. 

One other challenge highlighted in the report was risk. 

“Tumor vaccination is a therapy that is very well tolerated, with few to almost no side effects. But it is possible this will change in combination with other therapies, as some of them weaken or even overactivate the immune system,” said Halama.

Numerous studies are underway worldwide to test vaccines against a wide range of cancers, from lung cancer to melanoma, listed in an international database, ClinicalTrials.gov, which covers a variety of cancers.




This photo taken on November 17, 2021, shows a laboratory employee at work at the Transgene biotech firm, which is developing a neo-antigen cancer vaccine, in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France. (AFP File)

For scientists and researchers, the challenge of selecting which type of cancer to use the vaccine therapy on, the stage of cancer, the mechanisms that tumors use to “hide from the immune system,” suitable candidates, a patient’s overall state of health, and what properties must a target structure have in order to be considered is massive due to the unpredictable nature of some cancers and further responses to various forms of therapies.

A significant portion of cancers in industrial nations are attributable to preventable environmental and occupational risks, posing another challenge.

The report clearly indicates that vaccines are not a miracle cure; in fact, it is merely “a tool in a big toolbox” as it has to be integrated into a comprehensive therapy plan with considerations for how it can be utilized alongside other methods such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other immunotherapies.

Though the success of cancer therapies is increasing, there is still a need for additional, innovative research, as although researchers agree that mRNA vaccine technology has enormous potential, it is still in its infancy “in terms of concrete implementation.”

 


A look at South Sudan, where the US is accused of quietly sending migrants

Updated 7 sec ago
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A look at South Sudan, where the US is accused of quietly sending migrants

  • Years of conflict have left South Sudan heavily reliant on aid that has been hit hard by another Trump administration decision — sweeping cuts in foreign assistance

The United States is being asked to explain why it appears to be deporting migrants from as far away as Vietnam and Cuba to South Sudan, a chaotic country that’s once again in danger of collapsing into civil war.
A US judge ordered Trump administration officials to appear at an emergency hearing Wednesday to answer questions. The administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes in the US but refused to say where they would end up.
If South Sudan is the confirmed destination, that means people from Vietnam, Mexico and elsewhere are being sent to a nation they have no link to, thousands of miles from where they want to be. Vietnam’s list of its embassies in Africa shows the closest one to South Sudan is in Tanzania, over 800 miles away.
South Sudan’s police spokesperson, Maj. Gen. James Monday Enoka, told The Associated Press that no migrants had arrived and if they did, they would be investigated and “redeported to their correct country” if not South Sudanese.
Some in the capital, Juba, worried their country would become a kind of dumping ground. “Those people who are deported, some of them are criminals, they have been involved in crimes. So once they are brought to South Sudan, that means that criminal activities will also increase,” said Martin Mawut Ochalla, 28.
This would not be the first time the Trump administration has pressured South Sudan over deportees. Recently, the administration abruptly revoked the visas of all South Sudanese, saying their government failed to accept the return of its citizens “in a timely manner.” South Sudan pushed back, saying the person in question was Congolese, but later said it would allow him to enter “in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations” with the US
South Sudan’s government has struggled since independence from Sudan in 2011 to deliver many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid that has been hit hard by another Trump administration decision — sweeping cuts in foreign assistance.
Here’s a look at South Sudan, whose own people had been granted US temporary protected status because of insecurity at home.
A deadly divide
The euphoria of independence turned to civil war two years later, when rival factions backing President Salva Kiir and deputy Riek Machar opened fire on each other in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in 2013.
The two men’s tensions have been so much at the heart of the country’s insecurity that the late Pope Francis once took the extraordinary step of kneeling to kiss their feet in a plea for lasting peace.
Five years of civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people. A peace deal reached in 2018 has been fragile and not fully implemented, to the frustration of the US and other international backers. South Sudan still hasn’t held a long-delayed presidential election, and Kiir remains in power.
His rivalry with Machar is compounded by ethnic divisions. Machar has long regarded himself as destined for the presidency, citing a prophecy years ago by a seer from his ethnic group.
Earlier this year, the threat of war returned. Machar was arrested and allies in the government and military were detained following a major escalation that included airstrikes and an attack on a United Nations helicopter. Machar’s opposition party announced South Sudan’s peace deal was effectively over.
“Let’s not mince words: What we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which killed 400,000 people,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned.
Some Western countries have closed their embassies there while others, including the US, have reduced embassy staff. The US Embassy’s travel warning said that “violent crime, such as carjackings, shootings, ambushes, assaults, robberies, and kidnappings are common throughout South Sudan, including Juba.”
A country in disarray
The Trump administration’s pressure on South Sudan to take in deportees, including foreign ones, is in sharp contrast to Washington’s past warm embrace as its rebel leaders — including Kiir and Machar — fought for independence.
Now there is less support than ever for most of South Sudan’s over 11 million people because of the cuts in US aid.
Climate shocks including flooding have long caused mass displacement and closed schools. South Sudan’s health and education systems were already among the weakest in the world. Aid organizations had offered essential help.
South Sudan’s government has long relied on oil production, but little money from that is seen, in part because of official corruption. Conflict in neighboring Sudan has affected landlocked South Sudan’s oil exports. Civil servants at times go months without being paid.
How South Sudan is equipped to handle migrants arriving abruptly from the US is yet to be seen.


Russia says it downed hundreds of Ukrainian drones, briefly halts Moscow airports

Updated 21 May 2025
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Russia says it downed hundreds of Ukrainian drones, briefly halts Moscow airports

  • Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that at least 262 Ukrainian drones were intercepted or destroyed
  • Most were over Russia’s western regions bordering Ukraine and central Russia

MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday that its air defenses shot down more than 260 Ukrainian drones including some approaching Moscow, and the capital’s airports were briefly shut down to ensure the safety of flights.

There were no reports of casualties.

As Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European powers discuss ways to end the more than three-year-old conflict in Ukraine, fighting has intensified on some parts of the front and drone warfare has continued.

In a series of announcements, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that at least 262 Ukrainian drones were intercepted or destroyed on Wednesday. Most were over Russia’s western regions bordering Ukraine and central Russia.

But some approached the Moscow region where 21 million people live. The three major airports in the region halted flights briefly then resumed operations.

Ukraine’s military said its drones hit the Bolkhovsky Semiconductor Devices Plant, a supplier in the Oryol region to Russian fighter jet and missile makers.

The war in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, has become a crucible of drone innovation as both sides send the unmanned vehicles far behind the front lines.

Moscow and Kyiv have sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them innovatively and devise new methods to disable and destroy them, from farmers’ shotguns to electronic jamming.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces were advancing at key points along the front, and pro-Russian war bloggers said Russia had pierced the Ukrainian lines between Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address the heaviest frontline battles were around Pokrovsk and made no reference to any Russian advances.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces remained active in two Russian regions along the border — Kursk and Belgorod.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.


Irish rapper charged over Hezbollah flag at London concert: police

Updated 21 May 2025
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Irish rapper charged over Hezbollah flag at London concert: police

  • Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is accused of showing support for a proscribed group
  • The rapper, from Belfast, is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18, police said

LONDON: A member of Irish rap group Kneecap has been charged with a terror offense for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert, police said on Wednesday.
Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is accused of showing support for the Lebanese militant group, who are proscribed by British authorities, during a performance on November 21.
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation after a video of the event surfaced online in April.
O’Hanna is accused of displaying a flag “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organization” in contravention of the 2000 Terrorism Act.
The rapper, from Belfast, is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18, police said.
The group had been scheduled to perform at a festival in London on Friday.
The charge follows growing scrutiny of Kneecap’s performances after footage circulated online showing provocative political statements made by the band on stage.
One video appeared to show a band member shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Those groups, in Gaza and in Lebanon, are banned as terror organizations in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.

Political messaging

The band, known for its confrontational style and Irish nationalist messaging, has denied supporting violence or banned groups.
It said video footage had been “deliberately taken out of context.”
The backlash led to the cancelation of several of the group’s shows, including in southwest England and Germany.
The group’s songs include “Get Your Brits Out” and “Better Way To Live.”
The controversy has sparked a wider debate about artistic expression and political censorship.
The family of Conservative MP David Amess, who was fatally stabbed by an Daesh group follower in 2021, called for an apology while the party leader Kemi Badenoch called for the band to be banned.
In a statement in April, the band denied promoting extremist views and apologized to the families of Amess and Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016 by a neo-Nazi sympathizer a week before the divisive Brexit referendum.
“We do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” the group said.
Nearly 40 musicians and groups, including Pulp, Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Massive Attack, have publicly backed Kneecap, accusing authorities of suppressing creative freedom.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin had urged the band to clarify whether they supported the groups or not.
An attack in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with the territory’s health ministry on Tuesday putting the death toll at 53,655.


Japan flexes defense ambitions at arms show

Updated 21 May 2025
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Japan flexes defense ambitions at arms show

  • Japan has been gradually stepping back from the pacifism that was the cornerstone of decades of defense planning after the country’s defeat in World War Two

TOKYO: Japan opened one of its largest-ever arms shows on Wednesday in a display that Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said marked the pacifist nation’s deepening push for overseas defence cooperation and weapons exports.

The DSEI Japan exhibition near Tokyo showcased Japanese missiles, warships and research into lasers and electromagnetic railguns. 

The event, double the size of the 2023 show, drew 471 firms from 33 countries, including 169 from Japan — twice as many as two years ago, according to organizer Clarion Defense & Security.

“I sincerely hope that this exhibition will provide a new opportunity for cooperation and exchange between national delegations and companies, help sustain defense industry development, drive innovation and promote peace and stability,” Nakatani said during a speech at the event.

Japan has been gradually stepping back from the pacifism that was the cornerstone of decades of defense planning after the country’s defeat in World War Two.

It lifted a military export ban in 2014, and is taking its first steps into global defense cooperation encouraged by the United States and European partners eager to share development costs and tap Japan’s industrial base.

“Strength comes from expanding and elevating the alliance’s capabilities and capacity, which means leveraging our respective skills and our specialties in co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment,” US Ambassador to Japan George Glass said as he opened the DSEI US pavilion.


Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it drove out Ukrainian forces

Updated 21 May 2025
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Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it drove out Ukrainian forces

  • Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict
  • Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.


Putin has effectively rejected recent US and European proposals for a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday accused Kyiv’s allies of seeking a truce “so that they can calmly arm Ukraine, so that Ukraine can strengthen its defensive positions.”

North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, according to Ukraine, the US and South Korea. Russia announced on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army. Kyiv officials denied the claim.

Ukraine says it stopped Russian attacks in Kursk

The Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday that its forces repelled 13 Russian assaults in Kursk. Its map of military activity showed Ukrainian troops holding a thin line of land hard against the border but still inside Russia.

Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict, even though its full-scale invasion of its neighbor has been slow and costly in terms of casualties and equipment.

Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and met with selected volunteers.

Many of the volunteers wore clothes emblazoned with the Russian flag, some had the Latin letters “V” on them, one of the symbols of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What you are doing now during this difficult situation for this region, for this area, and for the country, will remain with you for the rest of your life as, perhaps, the most meaningful thing with which you were ever involved,” Putin said as he drank tea with the volunteers.

Ukraine’s surprise thrust into Kursk and its ability to hold land there was a logistical feat, carried out in secrecy, that countered months of gloomy news from the front about Ukrainian forces being pushed backward by the bigger Russian army.

Kyiv’s strategy aimed to show that Russia has weaknesses and that the war isn’t lost. It also sought to distract Russian forces from their onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

The move was fraught with risk. Analysts noted that it could backfire and open a door for Russian advances in Ukraine by further stretching Ukrainian forces that are short-handed along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.

The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamics of the war.

Putin told acting Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced families that still couldn’t return to their homes.

Putin said that he would back a proposal to build a museum in the region to celebrate what acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein described as “the heroism of our defenders and the heroism of the region’s residents.”

Disgruntled residents had previously shown their disapproval over a lack of compensation in rare organized protests.

Putin last visited the Kursk region in March, when Ukrainian troops still controlled some parts of the area. He wore military fatigues – a rarely seen sight for the Russian leader, who usually wears a suit – and visited the area’s military headquarters where he was filmed with top generals.

Russia and Ukraine continue deep strikes with drones

Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Wednesday repeatedly reported its air defenses shot down dozens of drones over multiple Russian regions. In total, between 8 p.m. on Tuesday and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the ministry said 262 drones were shot down.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported a total of 16 drones downed on their way toward Moscow, and during the day flights were briefly halted in and out of Moscow’s Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukosky airports, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya. Flights were also temporarily grounded in the cities of Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kostroma, Vladimir and Yaroslavl.

Local authorities in the regions of Tula, Lipetsk and Vladimir also announced blocking cell phone Internet in the wake of the drone attacks.

In Ukraine, Russian drone attacks killed two people and wounded five others in the northern Sumy region, the regional administration said.

In the Kyiv region, four members of a family were injured when debris from a downed drone hit their home, according to the regional administration.

Russia launched 76 Shahed and decoy drones overnight at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said.

The Ukrainian army said that its drones struck a semiconductor plant overnight in Russia’s Oryol region, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, 10 drones hit the Bolkhov Semiconductor Devices Plant, one of Russia’s key producers of microelectronics for the military-industrial complex.

It wasn’t possible to independently verify the claim.