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Shutterstock/ Sebastian Kaulitzki
Developed by scientists from the University of Oxford, the Francis Crick Institute and University College London, the ‘LungVax’ vaccine uses technology similar to the highly successful Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The team will receive funding for the study over the next 2 years to support lab research and initial manufacturing of 3,000 doses of the vaccine at the Oxford Clinical BioManufacturing Facility.
Lung cancer cells look different from normal cells due to having “red flag” proteins called neoantigens. Neoantigens appear on the surface of the cell because of cancer-causing mutations within the cell’s DNA.
The LungVax vaccine will carry a strand of DNA which trains the immune system to recognise these neoantigens on abnormal lung cells. The LungVax vaccine will then activate the immune system to kill these cells and stop lung cancer.