New mRNA Cancer “Vaccine” Targets Aggressive Brain Tumors

• by Amber Baker

• Published May 21, 2024
• Vaccines

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A new mRNA cancer biological labeled a “vaccine” is showing promise in treating an aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma. The novel cancer-fighting biological, which was developed at the University of Florida, has successfully reprogrammed the immune systems of four adult glioblastoma patients’ to attack the malignant brain tumors, according to results of the first-in-human clinical trial published this month in the journal Cell.

Preclinical trials in mice and dogs showed the mRNA product quickly and effectively reprogrammed the tumor microenvironment (TME) within days, enabling immune cells to attack the malignant brain tumor. These findings mirror results from previous mRNA “vaccine” studies in 10 pet dogs suffering with spontaneous brain tumors. Researchers aim to advance the mRNA biological to an expanded Phase I clinical trial for adult and pediatric brain cancer patients.¹

One of the most notable discoveries from the study—according to Elias Sayour, MD, PhD of the University of Florida and lead author of this study—was the rapid activation of the immune system by the new mRNA biological product, which was administered intravenously, and provoked a robust immune response that rejected the brain tumor.²

“In less than 48 hours, we could see these tumors shifting from what we refer to as ‘cold’—immune cold, very few immune cells, very silenced immune response—to ‘hot,’ very active immune response. That was very surprising given how quickly this happened, and what that told us is we were able to activate the early part of the immune system very rapidly against these cancers, and that’s critical to unlock the later effects of the immune response.”²

“Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor, and despite the boon in medical innovations, outcomes have not precipitously changed in decades,” Dr. Sayour told Medical News Today. “Our brain tumor program has developed promising effects with other forms of immunotherapy against brain cancer and wanted to test a novel mRNA vaccine design to enhance responses for these difficult-to-treat diseases,” he added.¹

Differences Between New mRNA Brain Cancer and mRNA COVID Biologicals

The mRNA brain cancer biological, like other immunotherapies, attempts to “teach” the immune system to attack foreign tumors, representing a promising new way to treat treatment-resistant cancers using mRNA technology and lipid nanoparticles. The technology mirrors that of the novel mRNA coronavirus biological—the first mRNA product labeled a “vaccine” that has gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval—and uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver synthetic coronavirus spike protein into the cells of the body.  The new mRNA brain cancer biological leverages the patient’s own tumor cells, while utilizing a genetically engineered complex lipid particle (LP) delivery mechanism.²

“Instead of us injecting single particles, we’re injecting clusters of particles that are wrapping around each other like onions, like a bag full of onions,” Sayour said. “And the reason we’ve done that in the context of cancer is these clusters alert the immune system in a much more profound way than single particles would.”²

Canine (dog) participants with brain cancer in an animal trial lived a median of 139 days following treatment, compared to the typical median survival range of 30 to 60 days for dogs with the condition who did not receive the mRNA biological. The study authors acknowledged that it is too early to assess clinical effects, also noting that one limitation is continued uncertainty about how best to harness the immune system while minimizing the potential for adverse side effects.

Sayour and co-author of the study Duane Mitchell, MD hold patents on the mRNA cancer biological with the option to license by iOncologi, a biotech company for which Dr. Mitchell is the founder and president. The next step will be to validate the initial findings of the first completed human trial in an expanded Phase I clinical trial, including up to 24 adult and pediatric patients. Once a safe dose is confirmed, approximately 25 children would participate in Phase II, Sayour said.²

Uncertainty Looms Over Short- and Long-Term mRNA Shots Effects

While many herald the advent of the novel mRNA brain cancer treatment technology, a growing number of experts continue to sound the alarm on the short- and long-term effects of mRNA technology. A study published in the journal Nature last year discovered that the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) COVID-19 shots can unexpectedly cause cells of the body to misread the mRNA coding and produce unintended proteins (also known as ribosomes), a process described in the study as “frameshifting.” The research, conducted initially on mice and later involving 21 human subjects, who received Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty shot, revealed that approximately one-third of individuals exhibited unintended immune reactions. Reportedly, scientists have pinpointed the specific mRNA sequence responsible for these reactions and developed methods to mitigate “off-target” immune responses.³

Last fall, scientist and cancer specialist Phillip Buckhaults, PhD issued a stark warning about mRNA COVID shots. He did not mince words in a published presentation on the University of South Carolina website: “We should insist that the FDA force Pfizer to get the DNA out of the booster and all future mRNA-based vaccines.”⁴

Doctors Want Pfizer and Moderna to Remove Plasmid DNA in Lipid Nanoparticle Delivery System of mRNA COVID Shots

In his presentation, Dr. Buckhaults claimed that Pfizer’s Comirnaty mRNA shot is “contaminated with the plasmid DNA vector used as the template for in vitro transcription,” potentially causing serious side effects such as sustained autoimmune attacks and cardiac arrest. “Each shot contains about 200 billion pieces of plasmid DNA encapsulated in the lipid nanoparticle. This is a bad idea,” he stated, adding that there is also a theoretical risk of future cancer, depending on the DNA segment and its integration site.⁴

Following Buckhaults presentation, Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD wrote a letter to the commissioner of the FDA asking him to investigate alleged DNA contamination in Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty and Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax COVID shots to prove to the public that they are safe. In his letter, Dr. Ladapo asks the FDA to answer key questions about the safety of the lipid nanoparticle delivery system and the presence of DNA fragments in the mRNA COVID biological.

Ladapo was also among the first to warn of a link between COVID shots and heart attacks in males back in 2022. While, at the time, Lapado was publicly criticized for his statement, the FDA has since added a warning label on mRNA COVID shots regarding “serious (but rare) cases of inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) and of the outer lining of the heart (pericarditis) in adolescents and young adults. The complication occurs more often after the second dose of an mRNA shot.”^{4 5 6}

Currently, no U.S. health regulatory agency has defined a public standard for safe levels of residual DNA in vaccines.

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