The director of the Institute of Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases of Malaga, Fernando Fariñashas highlighted the advances in vaccines and has assured that in the future They will serve To cure autoimmune diseases, face certain types of cancer or to combat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or dementia with Lewy bodies.
In depth
“In the not too distant future vaccines They will treat and cure non -infectious diseases. We are facing a paradigm shift: they will be therapeutic vaccines, that they heal, not only that prevent diseases. This reality also opens the door to the creation of personalized vaccines“Fariñas said during his speech at the round table ‘New vaccines, platforms and administration systems’, held within the XII Congress of the Spanish Association of Vaccination.
In addition, these areas are added to the steps that trials with therapeutic vaccines They are giving in the fight against tumors of the central nervous system, arterial hypertension, smoking, or reduction of negative effects that cause some treatments, such as fentanyl (which generates great toxicity in the body).
At the moment, There are more than 300 clinical trials worldwide that focus on this therapeutic approach of vaccines; and some of them (lung and melanoma cancer vaccine) are performed in Spain.
Precisely, certain trials to achieve the cure against lung cancer are found in Advanced clinical phasethat is, they have already overcome the security stadium and its effectiveness is being valued. If this is positive, it would be passed to phase 3, the clinic, but – as this immunology and immunoinfectology -“expert affirms” “It is very likely that none of these vaccines have all clinical trials before 2030“
More details
Along these lines, the head of the Institute of Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases of Malaga has launched a positive, but cautious message: “The future will be bettersure, we will have vaccines to cure diseases such as some types of cancer or dementias, but you have to be cautious, Many of the investigations that are being carried out will not come out, they will stay on the road“
Fariñas explained that research in this field is developing thanks, above all, To the important advance that the technology called Messenger RNA has meantthe same that has been used in some vaccines against COVID-19, which has generated More interest and financing.
This technique, as pointed out, consists of using genetic material that, once injected, sends information to the cells to manufacture a protein, which awakens The immune response against the tumorthat will attack them Without damaging healthy cells.
Among their advantages It also emphasizes that it would be a less aggressive treatment than other more traditional approaches, such as chemotherapies or radiotherapies. Besides, The effectiveness of these vaccines will increase if it can be applied in early stages of the disease.
To take into account
This technology, based on the use of tumor’s own proteins, opens the door to the creation of personalized vaccines. “Tumors express proteins and these can be specific to a certain type of cancer and appear, therefore, In all the people who suffer from itbut if there are patients in which another different protein is expressed, which does not appear in others, we can Create vaccines with your proteins to combat your tumor: we are talking about custom vaccines“Fariñas said.
In addition, the tests that are being carried out They demonstrate Also that the effectiveness of this vaccination system is highly increased if used in a combined way with immunotherapy that is currently being administered to thousands of patients with different types of cancer, based most cases on the use of so -called monoclonal antibodies.
“For example, Immunotherapy alone in front of melanoma has significant efficacybut combined with a messenger RNA vaccine this protection is increases In an important way and, therefore, philosophy is to use both combined systems, “said Fariñas.
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