Aditya DidwaniyaThe first person to receive the cancer vaccine shows no metastases, says Gamaleya Center scientific director Alexander Gintsburg. The patient has finished treatment and now has monthly checkups.
Doctors found no metastases in the first patient who received the cancer vaccine. Alexander Gintsburg, scientific director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, shared the update.
Treatment Is Over, Checkups Go On
“He has already finished treatment. He is now being monitored, and every month. <…> This will last three years,” the academician said in an interview.
High Resolution Scans Track Progress
Andrey Kaprin, head of the National Medical Research Radiology Center at the Health Ministry, performs the patient’s CT scans. The scans are extremely sharp and can show details down to tenths of a millimeter. Doctors look at the lymph nodes first, Gintsburg explained.
“He is fine. As of yesterday, no new growths were found,” the specialist noted.
How the mRNA Cancer Vaccine Works
The cancer vaccine is built on mRNA technology. It trains the immune system to destroy the malignant tumor and its metastases by itself. Specialists create a personal vaccine for every patient from the patient’s genetic data. No two tumors are the same, he concluded.
The First Injection Was Given in April
Doctors gave the Neoonkovak vaccine to a patient with skin melanoma in April. It was the first time the vaccine had been used on a person. The National Medical Research Radiology Center and the Gamaleya Center developed the project together.
Pratik Agrawal
Mayur Mohta
Akshay Didwaniya