An experimental cancer vaccine has shown promising results in reducing the risk of relapse and death in patients with melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer. The data comes from an international clinical trial whose results, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and published in the scientific journal 'Journal of Clinical Oncology', suggest that combining this personalized vaccine with immunotherapy could represent a significant advance in the treatment of the disease.

The authors of the study, developed in the United States and Australia, state that the vaccine has proven effective in reducing the risk of recurrence and death from skin cancer by up to 49%. This reduction was calculated five years after surgical removal of the tumors and has remained unchanged so far.

The study evaluated a type of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines specifically developed for each patient based on the genetic characteristics of their tumor. The combination of this vaccine with standard treatments such as immunotherapy drugs achieved a 49% reduction in the risk of relapse or death five years after surgery. These results represent some of the strongest evidence obtained to date on the potential of personalized mRNA vaccines against skin cancer.

The therapy was tested in 157 patients with melanoma who had undergone surgical tumor removal. In this trial, 107 volunteers received the combination of vaccine and immunotherapy, while 50 were treated solely with drugs like pembrolizumab. The analysis shows that five years after this combined treatment, 68.8% of patients who received both formulas remained cancer-free, compared to 49.1% of those who only received immunotherapy. Furthermore, the risk of developing distant metastasis was reduced by 59% in patients who had received the experimental immunization.

Another strong point of this trial is the surprising increase in patients' overall survival rates. 92.2% of patients treated with the drug combination were still alive at the end of follow-up, compared to 71.3% in the group treated solely with standard therapy. "Our study provides solid evidence to melanoma patients that this drug combination can reduce the risk of their cancer returning and improve clinical outcomes," comments Janice Mehnert, professor in the Department of Medicine at New York University and lead researcher.

The results also serve as encouragement for cancer researchers worldwide, as they demonstrate that mRNA vaccines could work well in combination with immunotherapy for other types of cancer with high mutation rates.

The key to the treatment, which may soon enter the third phase of clinical studies, lies in enhancing the immune system's response. The vaccine contains genetic instructions for the body to recognize abnormal proteins present exclusively in melanoma tumor cells, using samples from the tumors removed from patients to identify specific targets for attack.

Luis Álvarez Vallina, head of the Clinical Research Unit in Cancer Immunotherapy at the National Center for Oncological Research, highlights that the data align with the idea that vaccines can increase antibody efficacy and generate new immune responses against the tumor. If the results are confirmed in subsequent studies, it could establish "the first real standard of personalized RNA vaccines in oncology".