mRNA cancer vaccine

Introduction

Moderna's mRNA-4157/V940 cancer vaccine

Indications

• investigation treatment of cutaneous melanoma in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda)

Adverse effects

• serious treatment-related events in 14.4% of patients receiving mRNA-4157/V940 & pembrolizumab vs 10% receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy

Mechanism of action

• personalized for each patient
  • vaccine is designed to prime the immune system such as to allow a patient to generate a tailored antitumor response specific to their tumor mutations
  • DNA from the patient's normal tissue as well as DNA from the tumor are sequenced
  • a set of mutations unique to the patient's cancer are identified
  • a single synthetic mRNA coding for up to 34 neoantigens is designed based on the tumor's specific mutational signature

Clinical trials

• open label phase 2b clinical trial

Notes

• reduces risk of cancer recurrence or death among melanoma patients by 44% compared with pembrolizumab alone
• process of personalizing the vaccine happens over several weeks
• RNA sequencing takes only 2 hours to develop
• Moderna also plans to expand its personalized mRNA vaccine approach beyond melanoma

More general terms

• cancer vaccine