Signal MSK trial reports 90% survival among immune responders in pancreatic cancer

Summary

The report presents early pancreatic cancer results as one of the strongest signals for personalized mRNA vaccines. Pancreatic cancer has a global five-year survival rate of around 13%, and few treatments have meaningfully improved outcomes. A trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center tested custom vaccines based on unique changes in each patient's tumour DNA and delivered using mRNA. The underlying question was whether the immune system could be shown what to attack. Over the six-year study, patients whose immune systems responded to the vaccine after their final treatment had a survival rate of 90%. The report suggests such tailored vaccines could offer an answer to a problem that affects patients worldwide.