Not long ago, a diagnosis of advanced cancer left doctors with little more than symptom control and hope. Over the course of a few of decades, however, that picture changed dramatically. Chemotherapy delivered the first meaningful survival gains, though at a steep cost in side effects, a cost later softened by a new generation of supportive drugs that made treatment safer and more tolerable. The mapping of the human genome then opened up an era of precision medicine, as whole-genome sequencing revealed mutations that could be directly targeted. Survival improved again, but a cure remained elusive: tumours kept finding new, resistant mutations to evade each targeted drug. It took a deeper understanding of the immune system to breach the next frontier: immunotherapy taught the body’s own defences to attack cancers once thought untreatable.

Now, a new contender has emerged that could rewrite the story once more: personalized mRNA tumour vaccines. Recent trial results suggest that the next chapter of the cancer treatment story may already be unfolding.

Evolution of treatment

Cancer treatment has advanced in successive waves. In the 1970s and 80s, chemotherapy became the cornerstone of oncology, improving outcomes across the board and curing diseases such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma and testicular cancer. The sequencing of the human genome and subsequent advances in molecular biology then enabled targeted therapies aimed at specific genetic abnormalities — HER2 in breast cancer, EGFR mutations in lung cancer, and many others.

The most dramatic transformation of the past two decades, however, came with immunotherapy. Checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab (drugs that block certain proteins on T-cells of the immune system, helping to attack cancer cells) changed the outlook for metastatic melanoma, a disease that had previously carried a dismal prognosis. What began in melanoma soon spread to lung, kidney, bladder, liver and head-and-neck cancers, reshaping treatment paradigms worldwide.

Immunotherapy has greatly impacted the management of blood cancers as well. Once primarily managed by chemotherapy, cancers like multiple myeloma and lymphoma, have entered the immunotherapy era through CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibodies (lab-made proteins that can attach to two different targets), producing outcomes unimaginable just a decade ago.

Today, personalised mRNA vaccines are poised to build on that foundation.

The melanoma breakthrough

The recent excitement around mRNA vaccines stems from the Phase III INTerpath-001 trial, which evaluated intismeran autogene (mRNA-4157/V940), a personalised mRNA vaccine. The study enrolled roughly 1,100 patients with high-risk melanoma who had undergone complete surgical removal of visible disease. They received either immunotherapy through pembrolizumab alone, or pembrolizumab combined with an individualised vaccine designed, using artificial intelligence, from the genetic profile of each patient’s own tumour. This vaccine essentially trained the patients’ immune systems to recognise and destroy unique mutations (neoantigens) on their tumour cells

The results were striking: the combination significantly improved both recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone. Earlier studies of the same strategy had already shown roughly a 49% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death, and a 59% reduction in the risk of distant metastasis or death, compelling evidence that a personalised vaccine can amplify the effect of existing immunotherapy.

For the first time, a personalised neoantigen-based mRNA therapy has succeeded in a large, randomized Phase III trial, validating a concept researcher have pursued for years.

How does it work?

Unlike traditional vaccines, which prevent infection, these are therapeutic vaccines, developed after a disease has been diagnosed, to help trigger the body’s immune system. Once a tumour is sequenced, sophisticated algorithms pick out the mutations unique to that patient’s cancer (neoantigens), providing the necessary information for production of customised mRNA constructs encoding these tumour-specific neoantigens. When injected, these mRNA constructs train the patient’s immune system, particularly the T cells, to recognise and destroy cancer cells carrying those exact mutations. In effect, every patient receives a vaccine made exclusively for their own cancer.

Cancer is increasingly understood as an ecosystem, shaped by interactions between tumour cells, the immune system and the surrounding microenvironment. Immunotherapy works by altering that ecosystem, changing the ‘immune soil’ in which cancer grows. Personalised mRNA vaccines may be the next step: directing the immune response with even greater precision.

Following on, from immunotherapy

The current moment resembles the early days of immunotherapy. When checkpoint inhibitors first showed unprecedented benefit in melanoma, many assumed the impact would stay confined to a handful of cancers. Instead, immunotherapy became a universal oncology platform, transforming treatment across tumour types.

mRNA vaccines appear to be following a similar trajectory. Melanoma, with its high mutational burden and strong response to immune-based approaches, served as the ideal proving ground. Researchers are now studying personalised vaccine strategies in lung, gastrointestinal, genitourinary and several other cancers.

If these trials succeed, the implications could be enormous. Future treatment may routinely involve genomic sequencing after surgery, followed by the rapid design of a patient-specific vaccine given alongside immunotherapy — aiming to wipe out microscopic residual disease before it can return. This is the essence of personalised cancer treatment.

The path ahead

Further automation of neoantigen discovery through AI and manufacturing techniques refined during the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated the capacity to generate sophisticated mRNA therapies at scale. Together, these advances are moving personalised cancer vaccines from concept to clinical reality.

Oncology has moved from supportive care to chemotherapy, from chemotherapy to targeted therapy, and from targeted therapy to immunotherapy. Personalised mRNA vaccines may mark the next great leap.

The battle against cancer is far from over. But history offers an encouraging precedent: melanoma announced the arrival of immunotherapy, and it may now be announcing the arrival of another revolutionary treatment platform. If the promise of mRNA tumour vaccines holds across multiple cancers, future generations may look back on this moment as the beginning of the next major transformation in cancer care.

(Dr. Harish P. is a consultant in medical oncology at Manipal Hospital Yelahanka. harish.p1@manipalhospitals.com)

Published – August 29, 2026 02:29 pm IST

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A vaccine to fight cancers affecting women will be available in five to six months, and those in the age group of nine to 16 years will be eligible for inoculation, Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference here, the Union Minister of State for Health, Family Welfare and Ayush (Independent Charge) said that research on a vaccine is nearly complete and trials are underway.

“The number of cancer patients has increased in the country, and the Central government has initiated steps to address this issue. Women above 30 will undergo screening at hospitals, and daycare cancer centres will be established for early detection of the disease,” Jadhav said.

He said the government has also waived off customs duty for medicines used in cancer treatment.

The minister said, “The research on a vaccine for cancers that affect women is nearly complete, and trials are underway. It will be available in five to six months, and girls in the age group of nine to 16 years will be eligible for inoculation.” Asked about the cancers the vaccine will tackle, Jadhav said breast, oral and cervical cancers.

Asked about transforming the existing healthcare centres into Ayush facilities, Jadhav said hospitals have Ayush departments, and people can avail of these facilities.

He said the country has 12,500 such health facilities, and the government is increasing them.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Russia has developed an mRNA vaccine against cancer, Russian news agency TASS has reported. The vaccine will be distributed to cancer patients for free, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health, Andrey Kaprin, told Radio Rossiya.

The vaccine has been developed in collaboration with several research centers and is expected to be released for public use by early 2025.

The vaccine’s pre-clinical trials had shown that it suppresses tumor development and potential metastases, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg told TASS.

What Is An mRNA Vaccine?

mRNA or messenger-RNA vaccines use specific parts of the infectious agent like its protein, sugar, or coating. mRNA vaccine gives a message to our cells to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein which are like those of the virus. The protein then triggers an immune response inside our bodies.

Can AI Help Generate Personalised Cancer Vaccines?

Earlier, in an interview with TASS, Mr Gintsburg had said that the use of artificial neural networks could bring down the duration of computing required to create a personalized cancer vaccine to less an hour.

“Now it takes quite long to build [personalized vaccines] because computing of how a vaccine, or customized mRNA, should look like uses matrix methods, in mathematical terms. We have involved the Ivannikov Institute which will rely on AI in doing this math, namely neural network computing where these procedures should take about half an hour to an hour,” Russia’s vaccine chief said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks to scientists on the sidelines of the Future Technologies Forum at the World Trade Centre in Moscow, Russia.
| Photo Credit: AP

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russian scientists were close to creating vaccines for cancer that could soon be available to patients.

Mr. Putin said in televised comments that “we have come very close to the creation of so-called cancer vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs of a new generation”.

“I hope that soon they will be effectively used as methods of individual therapy,” he added, speaking at a Moscow forum on future technologies.

Mr. Putin did not specify which types of cancer the proposed vaccines would target, nor how.

A number of countries and companies are working on cancer vaccines. Last year the U.K. government signed an agreement with Germany-based BioNTech to launch clinical trials providing “personalised cancer treatments”, aiming to reach 10,000 patients by 2030.

Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck & Co are developing an experimental cancer vaccine that a mid-stage study showed cut the chance of recurrence or death from melanoma – the most deadly skin cancer – by half after three years of treatment.

There are currently six licensed vaccines against human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause many cancers, including cervical cancer, according to the World Health Organization, as well as vaccines against hepatitis B (HBV), which can lead to liver cancer.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Russia developed its own Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 and sold it to a number of countries, although domestically it ran up against widespread public reluctance to get vaccinated.

Putin himself said he had taken Sputnik, in a bid to assure people of its efficacy and safety.

Currently, cancer patients receive the life-extending immunotherapy atezolizumab in hospital directly into their veins via a drug transfusion, which can take from 30 minutes to up to an hour to administer. Image for representation purpose only. File
| Photo Credit: Zappys Technology Solutions/Flickr

An anti-cancer jab that can cut down treatment time for some by three quarters has been rolled out by National Health Service (NHS) England, the U.K.’s publicly funded healthcare system.

The jab takes as little as 7 minutes to administer, NHS England said in a statement, adding that it will be the first health system in the world to roll out the seven-minute injection to hundreds of NHS cancer patients each year.

The vaccine has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the statement said.

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MHRA is a U.K. state agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe.

Currently, the patients receive the life-extending immunotherapy atezolizumab in hospital directly into their veins via a drug transfusion (intravenously), which can take from 30 minutes to up to an hour to administer, the statement said.

This anti-cancer jab, a subcutaneous or under-the-skin injection, is swifter and is expected to enhance the patients’ experience, it said.

The quicker administration could also free up valuable time for NHS cancer teams, it said.

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The healthcare system of England anticipates the majority of the approximately 3,600 patients starting their annual atezolizumab treatment in England to switch onto the time-saving injection.

Atezolizumab is an immunotherapy drug, currently offered by transfusion, that empowers a patient’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. The drug is adminstered to NHS patients with a range of cancers, including lung, breast, liver and bladder.

However, patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab may remain on the transfusion, the statement said.

“Maintaining the best possible quality of life for cancer patients is vital, so the introduction of faster under-the-skin injections will make an important difference,” said NHS National Director for Cancer, Peter Johnson.

“This is great news for both patients and clinicians. We welcome any new initiative that brings speedier treatment to patients and gives them more comfortable care,” said Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.