Personalized melanoma vaccine shows promise in cutting cancer recurrence nearly in half

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – A major breakthrough in cancer treatment could change the way high-risk melanoma is fought, with early results showing a new personalized vaccine may cut the risk of the cancer returning by nearly half.

According to research released by pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck, the experimental vaccine uses mRNA technology — the same platform made widely known during the COVID-19 pandemic — to train a patient’s immune system to recognize and attack their specific cancer.

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and affects nearly 1.5 million Americans, according to SkinCancer.org. Roughly one in five Americans will develop some form of skin cancer by age 70.

In an ongoing clinical trial, researchers found that the personalized mRNA vaccine, when paired with immunotherapy treatment Keytruda, significantly reduced the chances of melanoma returning in patients considered high risk.

Michelle Brown, vice president of oncology portfolio leadership at Moderna, explained that the vaccine works by delivering genetic instructions that help the immune system recognize cancer cells.

“It’s a messenger — it basically gives instructions for which proteins need to be made in your body — and helps teach the immune system to recognize those cancer cells instead,” Brown said.

Brown said the vaccine is customized for each patient using information taken directly from their tumor.

“The mRNA strand is the mutations that are cancer-specific from that specific patient to train their immune system to go and attack their cancer,” she said.

Kentucky oncologist Russell Eldridge said the results mark a major leap forward in personalized cancer care.

“We now have a vaccine trial that’s good enough to make a more effective vaccine,” Eldridge said. “The mRNA vaccine technology made it much better, and when they combined it with Keytruda, they got really important results in reducing the number of people who had the melanoma show up again.”

Eldridge added that creating a vaccine tailored to each individual’s cancer has been discussed in medicine for decades — and now it’s finally becoming reality.

“The technique of making a vaccine against each person’s cancer, which people have talked about for a long time, is now achievable,” he said.

Researchers say the vaccine will move into a third phase of clinical trials for melanoma and other cancers before being submitted to the FDA for approval in the U.S. and worldwide.