GSK has said it will spend £50m on a project with the University of Oxford to investigate whether vaccines could be used to prevent some cancers.
The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company said that the GSK-Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme will look at how pre-cancerous cells develop.
Scientists are increasingly optimistic about the potential for cancer vaccines, which aim to help the patient’s own immune system fight against cancers. Some of the vaccines already undergoing tests on patients, including in the UK, and interventions are tailored to the individual’s tumours.
GSK said that its investment in research over at least three years would rely on Oxford’s expertise in identifying and sequencing neoantigens, described as “tumour-specific proteins that prompt the immune system to recognise cancer”. That could help with vaccines or other forms of medicines to target pre-cancerous cells, which can otherwise progress into cancer over the course of years or even decades.
“Cancer does not come from nowhere,” said Sarah Blagden, the professor of experimental oncology at Oxford, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Cancers can take up to 20 years, sometimes even more, to develop. The normal cell transitions to become cancerous. At that point most cancers are invisible.
“The purpose of the vaccine is not to vaccinate against established cancer, but to actually vaccinate against that pre-cancer stage.”
Blagden will lead the research programme alongside Timothy Clay and Ramon Kemp of GSK.
Several cancer vaccines are already undergoing tests, as new technology allows scientists to sequence the genome of a tumour to find genetic mutations that produce neoantigens. The vaccine will then introduce personalised neoantigens into the body, stimulating the immune system to seek out those cells and destroy them.
Individual vaccines can be made using mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid), the molecules responsible for turning DNA sequences into proteins. Vaccines using mRNA came to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The process of sequencing genomes quickly and then producing vaccines remains expensive, but scientists have been encouraged by early results in some tests, ranging on cancers including some cancers of the lungs, brain, ovaries, skin and pancreas, according to the Economist. It could also prove a lucrative business for pharma companies investigating them, including Moderna, MSD, BioNTech and GSK.
Irene Tracey, the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, said the research programme would “unite experts in clinical trials, immuno-oncology, vaccinology and precancer research from across” the university with the aim to “unlock the potential of cancer vaccines and bring hope to patients worldwide”.
Peter Kyle, the science and technology minister, said the government wanted to “transform what’s possible when it comes to diagnosing and treating this disease”.
“Cancer is a disease that has brought pain and heartbreak to every family in the country, including my own,” he added.
• This article was amended on 28 January 2025. An earlier version referenced the pharmaceutical company “Merck”, when MSD is the company’s legal name outside the US and Canada. This has been corrected.
