The new cancer vaccine has just been injected into the first patient in the United States

Initial results will be announced at the end of 2018.

Moderna Therapeutics - an American biotech company, recently injected a cancer vaccine they are developing into the first patient. The work is in Phase I of the clinical trial, helping to check the safety of the cancer vaccine called mRNA-4157.

Scientists also want to consider the tolerability of the drug and whether it stimulates the immune response in patients. The new vaccine that Moderna Therapeutics developed uses mRNA (messenger RNA) to be modified to attack solid tumors. It is considered a great step forward in both areas: and individualization for each patient.

The first to test the new vaccine is a lung cancer patient.

The first person to test the vaccine was revealed by Moderna Therapeutics as a patient. This patient had a tumor but had surgery removed. The scientists extracted a 1mm ³ cube from cancer tissue, analyzed its genetic code to identify mutations in the cell.

These mutations are then copied into a single mRNA. Scientists hope it will help the immune system differentiate between cancer cells and benign cells, allowing the body to fight itself against cancer.

This immune system reaction triggers a new drug called a vaccine, similar to CIMAvax , Cuba's lung cancer vaccine. However, there is a big difference, CIMAvax is a mass vaccine, and Moderna Therapeutics' new vaccine is designed specifically for each patient.

'It is a separate drug designed to help each patient's immune system identify cancer as an exotic element of the body and attack it. [This vaccine] will become an important addition to oncologists' arsenal of therapies, able to help many patients better respond to treatment , 'said Dr. Howard A. Burris III. , one of the researchers said.

Of course, there's a long way to go from clinical trials until the vaccine is ready to be used on a large scale. Currently, the new nRNA-4157 is being tested with cancer patients after tumor removal surgery. If these initial trials went smoothly, it would be tested in both patients with complex and non-surgical solid tumors.

Under the plan of Moderna Therapeutics, 90 patients are expected to participate in the trial. Initial results will be announced at the end of 2018.