Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences) will develop an mRNA vaccine against cancer. It will be personalized: according to the head of the institute’s genome editing laboratories, Grigory Stepanov, by studying tumor cells and identifying so-called neoantigens, it is possible, using bioinformatics methods, to select an mRNA that will trigger an immune response in the cells of a particular patient.
He remembered that under typical circumstances, tumor cells manage to elude the immune system’s defenses. He emphasized that a cancer vaccine would not be effective in situations where these cells are shielded by a physiological barrier, such as in the case of brain cancer. Stepanov stated that it would take approximately 10 years to develop and fully test the entire technology. The subsequent conduction of clinical and preclinical trials poses a separate challenge, as such trials have not yet been established within global standards.
According to Stepanov, mRNA vaccines can also be utilized for the treatment of genetic disorders, enabling us to address gene dysfunctions and deficiencies.Stepanov believes that these and similar mRNA vaccines will appear in Russia within the next three years.
