According to the "Guardian " report on October 16, the founder of the German biotech company BioNTech said in an interview with BBC that the mRNA new crown vaccine technology can be used to help destroy cancer cells. This means that cancer vaccines may be released by 2030
BioNTech is the largest biotech unicorn in Europe. It has cooperated with Pfizer in the United States to develop and produce the mRNA new crown vaccine. On October 16, the company's co-founders Ugur Sahin and Ozran Toureli said in a BBC interview program that they have made significant breakthroughs in technology, giving them confidence in producing cancer vaccines in the next few years.
Sahin and Tureli (Photo source: Guardian)
When asked when the cancer vaccine based on mRNA can be used for patients, Sahin said that They may be released by 2030 .
As BioNTech's chief medical officer, Toureli said that their can transport genetic instructions of non-infectious spike proteins on the virus to the human body. These instructions are received by cells that produce spike proteins. These proteins or antigens can guide organelles to assist in activate natural immune responses, telling the immune system's antibodies and other defense systems to search and attack what targets .
Cancer cells can be destroyed in this way. Cancer vaccines do not carry codes that recognize viruses, but rather contain genetic instructions that cancer antigens (proteins that cover the surface of tumor cells).
Before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, BioNTech had been studying mRNA cancer vaccine. But after the global spread of the epidemic, the company turned to develop the new crown vaccine . The company now has several cancer vaccines in clinical trials. Saxin said that the successful development of the new crown vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech also promoted the company's work in developing cancer vaccines.
This German company hopes to develop treatments for bowel cancer, melanoma and other cancer types, but is also facing huge obstacles at the moment. Because the cancer cells that form tumors can be covered with a variety of different proteins, which makes it extremely difficult to create a vaccine against all cancer cells, not healthy tissues.
Turelli said that BioNTech learned how to make mRNA vaccines faster during the epidemic and better understand how the human immune system responds to mRNA. The intense development and rapid launch of the new crown vaccine has also made drug regulators more skilled in the approval of vaccines. "This will certainly accelerate the emergence of our cancer vaccine," she added.
But Sahin is still cautious about this work. "As scientists, we are always reluctant to say that we will have a cure for cancer," he said. "We have many breakthroughs and we will continue to work hard."
In August this year, American biopharmaceutical company Moderna said it is suing BioNTech and its partner Pfizer infringement of the company's patent for the new crown pneumonia vaccine. When asked about this, Shahin responded: "Our innovation is original. We have spent 20 years researching and developing this treatment, and of course we will fight for our intellectual property."
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source: Jimu News
