China News Service, Beijing, May 26 (Reporter Sun Zifa) In a new cancer research paper published in the internationally renowned academic journal "Nature", researchers demonstrated a new cancer vaccine that blocks tumor defenses against vaccine-induced immune attacks .

Preliminary results demonstrate the efficacy and safety of this vaccine in mice and non-human primates (rhesus monkeys).

This preclinical result could pave the way for further testing to determine clinical applicability.

　　According to the paper, most cancer vaccines target specific cell surface proteins (antigens) expressed by cancer cells that help the immune system recognize and attack these cells.

But the nature and immunogenicity (the ability to elicit an immune response) of these antigens is unique to each individual, limiting the development of a universal vaccine.

Moreover, tumors can often evade immune attack by mutating and altering antigen presentation, thereby reducing its recognition.

　　Corresponding author Kai Wucherpfennig of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and colleagues propose a new design of a cancer vaccine that can overcome individual differences in cancer immunity by targeting Two major types of immune cells, T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, elicit a coordinated all-out attack independent of tumor antigens.

The vaccine targets two surface proteins, MICA and MICB, whose expression is increased in response to stress in various human cancers.

Under normal circumstances, T cells and NK cells are activated by binding to these stress proteins, and tumor cells can escape immune attack by splicing MICA and MICB and shedding them.

But this vaccine can prevent splicing, thereby increasing the expression of stress proteins, and ultimately more likely to trigger a coordinated dual attack by T cells and NK cells.

Their research showed that the vaccine was effective and safe in preliminary experiments in mouse and rhesus monkey models.

　　These preliminary results suggest that the vaccine can improve immune protection against tumors, even those with escape variants, the authors concluded.

They also cautioned that future clinical trials of the research are needed to assess its potential in humans.

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