Study Finds Personalized Vaccine may Reduce Breast Cancer and Melanoma Return

New Delhi: A new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that personalized vaccines may play a key role in preventing the recurrence of aggressive tumors, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer and melanoma. Using mouse models, the team demonstrated that their vaccine approach could slow down tumor regrowth after surgical removal.

Triple-negative breast cancer and melanoma often have poor long-term outcomes because these cancers tend to come back after initial treatment. Quanyin Hu, a professor at the UW- Madison School of Pharmacy, said this vaccine strategy could theoretically be applied to other cancers prone to recurrence, such as pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain tumor.

The approach builds on the team’s earlier discovery of pyroptotic vesicles - tiny sacs containing remnants of cancer cells undergoing programmed cell death. These vesicles carry tumor-specific antigens and other molecules that help direct immune cells to find and eliminate cancer cells left behind after surgery.

In the new study published in Nature Nanotechnology, the researchers engineered these vesicles to carry an immune-stimulating drug and embedded them in a hydrogel. This hydrogel can be implanted into the space left after tumor removal.

The team tested the hydrogel vaccine in mouse models of melanoma and two types of triple-negative breast cancer, including one with a human-derived tumor. Mice treated with the hydrogel containing the engineered vesicles survived significantly longer than those receiving other cancer vaccine methods.

"Compared to the other approaches, ours shows a much stronger immune response," said Hu.

The localized nature of the treatment is another advantage, as applying the engineered vesicles directly to the tumor removal site reduces the risk of systemic side effects, which are common in current therapies.

This research points to a promising new way to reduce tumor recurrence in aggressive cancers by using personalized vaccines that stimulate the immune system at the site most vulnerable to relapse.