A lung cancer patient at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) is the first to receive a novel cancer vaccine that primes the immune system to recognise and fight cancer cells.
Janusz Racz, 67, from London (pictured), is the first participant in the trial. The vaccine has been made by German biotechnology firm BioNTech. It is being trialled for the first time in the UK, with the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility (CRF) as the lead research site.
This study follows the start of a similar cancer vaccine trial, also at the NIHR UCLH CRF, into an immunotherapy for melanoma. Both trials have benefitted from the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway (VIP), which played a crucial role in providing the systems and processes to optimise set up and patient recruitment. The VIP is a Clinical Trial Delivery Accelerator (CTDA) established to work with the UK health research system to speed the set-up and delivery of vaccine trials and establish the UK as a globally competitive destination for vaccine development.
The cancer immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) uses a messenger RNA (mRNA) to present common tumour markers to the patient’s immune system. This helps the immune system recognise and fight cancer cells expressing these markers. The vaccine is designed to specifically enhance immune responses against targets primarily expressed by cancer cells. This reduces the risk of toxicity to healthy, non-cancerous cells. Chemotherapy, on the other hand, often affects both cancerous and healthy cells.
The objectives of this study are to determine whether the immunotherapy, known as BNT116:
- is safe and well tolerated
- is effective on its own at targeting tumours
- can work with established chemotherapy or immunotherapy treatments to target tumours more effectively
The trial will be enrolling patients at different stages of NSCLC. Approximately 130 participants will be enrolled across 34 research sites in seven countries, with six UK sites selected.
Professor Karl Peggs, UCLH Director of Research and Director of the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, said: “Developing new approaches to treating cancer is a major priority for research at UCLH and within the BRC, and it’s exciting to see this first-in-human research get started at UCLH.
“We are able to do this kind of research thanks to our first-rate clinicians and research teams, our track record of working alongside industry, and our facilities and infrastructure which receive crucial support from the NIHR.”