Korea-U.S. researchers develop cancer vaccine with low side effects

Ryu Ju-hee, a senior researcher at the KIST

A team of researchers from South Korea and the United States has developed a novel vaccine that significantly reduces side effects.

According to Ryu Ju-hee, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology on Thursday, the institute partnered with researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard‘s Wyss Institute to develop DoriVac, the cancer vaccine.

The vaccine represents a departure from conventional approaches by fine-tuning the delivery of antigens and immune enhancers to mitigate side effects.

Cancer vaccines are gaining attention as the next generation of cancer therapy because they can provide personalized treatment tailored to individual patient antigens.

These cancer vaccines, however, have limited therapeutic effects depending on the specific cancer type or the patient’s immune status, according to researchers.

Immune-boosting drugs are used to supplement these vaccines, but they often cause side effects.

To minimize side effects, the research team focused on using the minimum amount of immune enhancers by precisely controlling the spatial arrangement of immune enhancers using DNA origami technology. This technology reportedly allows precise control of structures down to the nanometer (nm) scale.

Animal trials have demonstrated the remarkable effect of the new cancer vaccine, including five mice with induced skin cancer; those injected with DoriVac survived an average of 150 days, while untreated mice succumbed within 42 days.

Encouraged by these results, the research team is moving toward clinical trials, a critical step toward commercialization.