Artificial intelligence has made it possible to manufacture a “tailor-made” vaccine for patients with head and neck cancer at risk of relapse. The first results are encouraging.
- Using artificial intelligence (AI), the French biotechnology company Transgene has developed a “tailor-made” vaccine intended to prevent recurrence of ENT cancer (nose, throat, ear, and head and neck region).
- The vaccine was designed from the sequencing of tumors from 33 volunteer patients who, despite initial treatment, presented a high risk of relapse. Around thirty mutations being identified by the AI to create the vaccine, it is adapted to the tumor of each patient.
- After a 19-month follow-up, the personalized vaccine “induced specific immune responses and led to low relapse rates,” according to the researchers.
A treatment adapted to each tumor. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the French biotechnology company Transgene has developed a “tailor-made” vaccine intended to prevent recurrence of ENT cancer (nose, throat, ear, and head and neck region). THE first conclusions of its clinical study were presented at the last congress of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) which ended this Wednesday, April 10 in the United States.
An ENT anti-cancer vaccine adapted to each tumor
“Immunotherapy has a limited impact in patients with ENT cancers for whom unfortunately the risks of relapse are high, writes the Institut Curie, specializing in cancer research, in a communicated Press. However, a new strategy is being studied and the first clinical results are encouraging: personalized vaccines.”
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, researchers managed to design each vaccine individually, based on the sequencing of tumors from 33 volunteer patients who, despite initial treatment, presented a high risk of relapse. Around thirty mutations being identified by the AI to create the vaccine, it is adapted to the tumor of each patient.
A vaccine that educates the immune system to eliminate cancer
However, after the injections (several are necessary) and a 19-month follow-up, the personalized vaccine “induced specific immune responses and led to low relapse rates”, explains Dr Olivier Lantz, deputy director of the Immunity and Cancer Unit at the Institut Curie. “It is a therapeutic vaccine, in other words it aims to educate the immune system so that it kills tumor cells which are disseminated in the body, to prevent recurrence”specifies the doctor to BFM TV.
“Our work demonstrates the potential of therapeutic vaccines, which could not only prevent relapses in head and neck cancers but also make the tumor more receptive to other forms of immunotherapies, conclude the authors of the work, “looking forward to continuing the study of this vaccine.”
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