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An experimental mRNA cancer vaccine developed by Moderna Inc and Merck & Co cut the risk of death or recurrence of the most deadly skin cancer by 44% compared with Merck's immunotherapy Keytruda alone, U.S. researchers reported at a medical meeting on Sunday. The findings suggest that adding a personalized cancer vaccine based on mRNA technology to Keytruda, which revs up the immune response, could prolong the time patients have without recurrence or death, said Dr. Jeffrey Weber of the NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, who presented the findings. (Steenhuysen and Erman, 4/16)

Instead of using a vaccine to try to prevent or shrink a tumor, the new mRNA vaccines are aimed at reducing the chances of a high-risk cancer recurring. "This represents a big shift in how we're using cancer vaccines," said Dr. Robert Vonderheide, who was not involved in the study but is the program committee chair of the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting, where the study was presented. (Weintraub, 4/16)

The trial’s results are “very exciting,” said Dr. Thomas Marron, director of the Early Phase Trials Unit at the Tisch Cancer Institute and an associate professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “Once the tumor is removed, we know it can come back because tiny microscopic bits have traveled elsewhere in the body and set up shop there,” Marron said. The recurrence often appears quickly, between six months and two years, he said. The beauty of the vaccine in this study is that it targets up to 34 mutations, Marron said. “That’s like taking 34 shots on goal," he said. You’re teaching the immune system to recognize 34 different things that are unique to that cancer.” (Carroll and Lewis, 4/16)

As his patient sat on the examining table, dermatologist Jeremy Brauer explained the pathology report, letting him know that the lesion on his chest was skin cancer and that minor surgery would be required to remove it. “I’d like to try to get this done before the weather gets nice,” the patient, himself a physician, told Brauer, “so I can get back out into the sun.”Brauer, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health, says he was stunned. (Atkins, 4/16)