Nature Communication: Cancer vaccine can improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy

A powerful vaccine could be created to improve the effectiveness ofimmunotherapy by increasing mutation rates in cancer cells, a new study suggestsScientists used a molecule calledAPOBEC3B, forcing cancer cells in the lab to mutate faster than usualGenetic analysis showed that the tumor cells in the test group had millions more mutations than the control cells, which contained the classicAPOBEClabel, and that tumor cells with these genetic characteristics were more susceptible toimmunecheckpoint inhibitorsthe findings, published today in theNature Communication, were conducted by the Cancer Institute in London, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, and the University of Leeds in the United KingdomResearchers hope to use their new technology to produce personalized vaccines as early as next yearThey found that these highly mutated cancer cells could be used to create a vaccine for each type of cancer, thereby expanding the role of immunotherapy