Studies into vaccinations for cancer and cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases are showing "tremendous promise," with the success of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines accelerating this technology.
As The Guardian explains, "therapies based on mRNA work by teaching cells how to make a protein that triggers the body's immune response against disease." An mRNA-based cancer vaccine, for example, would "alert the immune system to a cancer that is already growing in a patient's body, so it can attack and destroy it, without destroying healthy cells."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In late 2022, Moderna announced a phase two clinical trial found the company's personalized mRNA cancer vaccine combined with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda reduced the recurrence of melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, by 44 percent. In February, the Food and Drug Administration gave this combination a Breakthrough Therapy Designation, which expedites the development and review of drugs meant to treat life-threatening conditions.
Vaccine studies now underway are showing "tremendous promise," Burton said, and he estimates that 10 years from now, "we will be approaching a world where you truly can identify the genetic cause of a disease and, with relative simplicity, go and edit that out and repair it using mRNA-based technology."
-
Normalising relations with the Taliban in AfghanistanThe Explainer The regime is coming in from the diplomatic cold, as countries lose hope of armed opposition and seek cooperation on counterterrorism, counter-narcotics and deportation of immigrants
-
Best poetry books of 2025The Week Recommends Magnificent collections from Luke Kennard, Leo Boix and Isabelle Baafi
-
‘Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right’ by Laura K. Field and ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare’ by Daniel SwiftFeature An insider’s POV on the GOP and the untold story of Shakespeare’s first theater
-
5 recent breakthroughs in biologyIn depth From ancient bacteria, to modern cures, to future research
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
An introvert's dream? Flu camps that offer £4,400 to spend two weeks aloneUnder The Radar A fortnight in isolation may not be as blissful as it sounds
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
