"There will be a cancer vaccine before 2030"

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If the pandemic had one good thing, it was the research boost it provided. The stimulus made it possible, in record time, to have effective and safe vaccines that changed the course of the disease. And that technology can now be turned to the fight against other diseases, such as cancer. This is proclaimed by Jonathan Kwok, a researcher at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and one of the scientists who are trying to make vaccines that allow different types of tumors to be stopped.

n, as soon as possible, a reality for patients.

"In English we have a saying: "Every cloud has a silver lining", which refers to the fact that behind each cloud is sunlight. The

It has been a terrible cloud, really horrible, but there is a ray of light. These new technologies that were developed because of a terrible infectious disease can now be redirected to cancer. There are different strategies underway, so we are in a really exciting moment, "says the researcher, who participated this week in the conference

organized by the CRIS Foundation against cancer as CEO of Infititopes, a

of the University of Oxford created precisely to promote the development of a therapeutic vaccine against cancer.

"Just five years ago, none of this would have been possible."

, recalls the researcher. "In Oxford, as in other institutions, with the outbreak of the pandemic we learned very, very quickly how to direct, design and develop vaccines against Covid; how to also quickly and safely conduct trials on patients and how to work with regulatory agencies and manufacturing companies to ensure that these products were properly evaluated and could reach patients as soon as possible. That experience can now be used in other areas, such as cancer. We must take advantage of it", underlines the researcher, convinced, after his talk at the Student Residence of the CSIC, where the event was held.

How long will it take for an effective therapeutic cancer vaccine to become available?

Right now there is a race in which at least 10 companies and academic departments are participating with different approaches and strategies. That there are so many therapeutic approaches is good news for everyone, because, as we saw with Covid, there does not have to be a single solution, but multiple. Along the way we will see what the advantages of each of these approaches are, which techniques are better and how they can be combined to provide the best care for patients. There are already some options that are in the intermediate stages of research. And it's quite possible that we'll see regulatory agencies grant these studies breakthrough therapy designation for these alternatives, which means streamlining the evaluation processes. Therefore, I believe that a cancer vaccine will be available before the end of this decade. I think our own vaccine will come before that deadline. It will be very interesting to see which of them works best. It's going to be really fascinating to work in this area of research for years to come.

Cancer Vaccine Challenges

Although Kwok does not want to give too much data about his approach to keep the development of the therapy secret, he does slip some of the keys that differentiate his strategy from those of his competitors. "We do three things especially well," he explains. First, the project, which aims to guide the immune system to locate and effectively fight the tumor enemy, has developed a technological platform that allows to select in a very precise way the cancer antigens that can be used to awaken an adequate response of the patient's immune system. In addition, Kwok continues, the strategy uses

.

"Other approaches are very good at providing short-term protection. But that's not what you need if you have a tumor. For cancer you need long-lasting protection, directed by

that maintain protection without ending up exhausted and stop the possibility of metastasis," says the researcher.

"Cancer deaths occur, in between 70% and 90% of cases, by metastasis. We want to stop these metastases, prevent them from occurring through a sustained immune system response that we have proven can be produced through the specific vector we use in our vaccine."

Underlines. "We want to achieve the same thing in people." As he explains, it is expected that the first stage of clinical trials, the one aimed at first checking the safety of the strategy, will start in the coming months.

The third point that his team is working on is based on analyzing and trying to establish the ideal time of administration of these vaccines. "Many times, after surgery to remove a tumor, it seems that the disease has been completely eliminated. However, small groups of cells can remain capable of traveling to other places in the body and even long after causing a metastasis.

". But it is important that this intervention is carried out in time, early, so as not to give any opportunity for the cancer to progress, he stresses.

Do you think cancer will be a curable disease one day?

Cancer is cunning, cunning. Obviously not consciously, but it is capable of changing, of mutating to escape all kinds of threats. He is constantly looking for ways to escape any control, be it chemotherapy, immunotherapy, vaccines... Whatever. I am very confident that we will be able to reduce the risk of metastasis, that we will be able to delay and slow them down. I think we're in an era where we'll see a lot of progress, but can cancer be cured? As an oncologist I would like to answer that yes, cancer, deaths and the suffering it causes are all that can be prevented, but we still have a way to go.

Today, treatments to fight cancer are very expensive, among the most expensive for the health system. Will these innovative therapies be available to everyone? Will they be able to afford them?

For us, that treatments are affordable, something that is often ignored from this sector, is very important. Right now there are therapies that can involve hundreds of thousands of euros per treatment, which means a lot of money for any health system. CAR-T therapies, which require obtaining the patient's own T lymphocytes, purifying them, selecting them and modifying them specifically so that they can fight cancer and then infusing them back into the patient, involve a technologically complex process that can cost more than 400,000 euros. It's very difficult to be able to assume that. These are very good therapies, especially in haematological tumours, but we need to find ways to make the treatments more affordable. For us, that goal is very important. Based on our estimates, we believe that we could develop a treatment whose price would not be much different from chemotherapy, which right now, especially since generic alternatives are available, is the cheapest therapy.

Kwok's career is atypical

. In addition to working as a researcher at leading universities, such as Oxford and treating cancer patients in hospitals such as the Queen Alexandra in Portsmouth, the scientist also has experience in other health areas, such as pandemic influenza, personalized medicine or even the emergency approach to cholera epidemics, a field in which he worked in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders. But what is most striking about his resume is that, after graduating, he put medicine on hold for a few years to devote himself to investment banking. For a time he dedicated himself to the analysis and advice on "what were then incipient and are now successful biotechnology, pharmaceutical and health technology companies". And it didn't go badly at all. He even won an award for the accuracy of his recommendations.

How does your past in the investment world help you now?

Above all, it helps me understand how investors think. As scientists, our goal is always to do exceptional science, which is fantastic, but can lead to what we call in English.

, that is, to a situation in which the interest in a particular topic leads you to see no further. The goal has to be the patient, to find a solution for the patients. Knowing the world of investing helps me, but I also know that there are investors and investors. Of course, everyone wants to make money, it is their goal, but especially in areas such as biotechnology or the environment there are many issues to consider. By knowing the sector you realize with which people you want to build a business.

What does it mean to you, on a personal level, to work in cancer research? Why did you decide to get involved in this field of studies?

I have had the opportunity to work as a doctor, seeing patients in a hospital. And that exposes you to very tough situations. One of the hardest conversations I have had in my life, I have it engraved in my memory, was in a consultation, when I had to tell a man in his early thirties, with a son of only five, that his wife, and mother of the little one, who suffered from metastatic breast cancer, was not going home. It was terrible. It's those stories that we want to change. The next generation of cancer therapies can be a game-changer. If we can stop the progression of cancer early, we can prevent tumors from recurrence and prevent many people from dying. That's my team's goal.