Russia has created its own mRNA vaccine for cancer, which will be provided to patients at no cost, as stated by Andrey Kaprin, general director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health, during an interview with Radio Rossiya. This vaccine was developed in partnership with various research institutions and is expected to be available for general public use by early 2025.
What do pre-clinical trials reveal?
Earlier, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, informed Russia’s official news agency TASS that pre-clinical trials of the vaccine demonstrated its ability to inhibit tumor development and limit potential metastases.
How will this transform cancer treatment?
Last month, President Vladimir Putin remarked that Russia’s cancer vaccine represents a remarkable advancement in combating the disease. During a meeting with Veronika Skvortskova, head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), she provided an update on the vaccine’s progress. According to Skvortskova, the FMBA’s cancer vaccine is anticipated to be ready for deployment in approximately one year. “It will still be a breakthrough,” Putin emphasized.
What types of cancer will the vaccine target?
In April, the FMBA head announced that the agency was actively developing a vaccine targeting cancer and malignant neoplasms, specifically for colorectal cancer, malignant melanomas, and glioblastomas.
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How can AI revolutionize personalized vaccines?
The integration of artificial neural networks has the potential to significantly reduce the time required to compute personalized cancer vaccines, a process that currently takes a considerable amount of time, to less than an hour. Alexander Gintsburg mentioned to TASS last week that “Now it takes quite long to build [personalized vaccines] because computing of how a vaccine, or customized mRNA, should look like uses matrix methods, in mathematical terms.” He noted that the Ivannikov Institute is now involved in employing AI for this mathematical computation, utilizing neural network technology to streamline the process to roughly half an hour to an hour.
What data is needed for AI training?
Previously, the researcher explained that to train the AI, an experimental database containing between 40,000 and 50,000 tumor sequences, along with the identification of antigen compatibilities converted into proteins or RNA in patients, would be essential. This information would assist in determining the suitability of vaccine combinations for individual patients. The vaccine development has already progressed past preclinical testing, according to Andrey Kaprin.
