A lung cancer patient at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) is the first to receive a novel cancer vaccine designed to prime the immune system to recognize and fight cancer cells. It is the first time this immunotherapy made by BioNTech, the German biotechnology company, will be studied in a clinical trial for lung cancer in the UK, where the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility is the lead research site. This was announced in an August 23, 2024 news release from UCLH.
The investigational mRNA cancer immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) – known as BNT116 – utilizes a messenger RNA (mRNA) to present common tumor markers from NSCLC to the patient’s immune system, with the aim of helping the immune system recognize and fight cancer cells expressing these markers.
The investigational vaccine is designed to specifically enhance immune responses against targets primarily expressed by cancer cells, reducing the risk of toxicity to healthy, non-cancerous cells – unlike chemotherapy, which often affects both cancerous and healthy cells.
UCLH consultant medical oncologist Siow Ming Lee, who leads the national study said: “Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020.”
“We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer, thanks to the foundation laid by the Office for Life Sciences, within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Health and Social Care.”
“We hope this will provide an opportunity to further improve outcomes for our NSCLC patients, whether in the early or advanced stages,” said Prof. Lee, who is also Professor of Medical Oncology at UCL. Prof. Lee’s research is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at UCLH.
The primary objective of this study is to determine if BNT116 is safe and well tolerated. The trial will be enrolling patients at different stages of NSCLC, from early-stage NSCLC before surgery or radiotherapy (Stage 2 and 3) to late-stage disease (Stage 4) or recurrent cancer.
The trial aims to establish the safety profile and a safe dose of BNT116 monotherapy, as well as of BNT116 in combination with established treatments for NSCLC to see if BNT116 has a synergistic anti-tumor effect when given with these established chemotherapy or immunotherapy treatments.
Approximately 130 participants will be enrolled in the study across 34 research sites in 7 countries, with 6 UK sites selected.
UCLH consultant medical oncologist Dr. Sarah Benafif is leading the delivery of the study at UCLH.