New Delhi:
Despite the tremendous progress of science, treatment of many major diseases is still not possible. Cancer is still considered an incurable disease. However, Russia has succeeded in making cancer vaccine. Russia’s Health Ministry announced this on Tuesday and now Russian news agency TASS has said that this vaccine will be given free to the people of Russia from 2025. Every year, cancer kills millions of people in the world. In such a situation, this cancer vaccine of Russia is being considered the biggest discovery of the century. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said earlier this year that we have come very close to making the vaccine and its medicine.
Andrei Kaprin, director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Health Ministry, said that Russia has developed its own mRNA vaccine against cancer. After clinical trials, it has been found that cancer vaccine helps in preventing tumors from developing.
How does mRNA vaccine work?
Any cell in the body of a cancer patient starts growing unexpectedly rapidly and takes the form of a tumor. The mRNA vaccine developed by Russia helps in preventing such tumors present in the body. Part of the genetic code of humans contains RNA which works to produce specific proteins for our cells. At the same time, when our body is attacked by any virus or bacteria, mRNA technology sends a message to our cells, in which the message is given to make protein. The purpose of this message is to ensure that our immune system gets the proteins it needs to fight. By getting this essential protein, antibodies are formed in the body. In this, the vaccine is prepared quickly and the immunity of the person becomes strong.
Actually cancer is not a disease. This is the result of different conditions in the body, which cause harm to the body. This is why according to cancer experts, it is impossible to make a cancer vaccine. However, vaccines are useful in some types of cancer and provide protection. However, cancer vaccine is never given before the disease. It is given to those people who have cancerous tumor. The vaccine tells the immune system what type of cancer cells are.
AI’s help in vaccine manufacturing
Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told TASS that pre-clinical trials of the vaccine have shown that it suppresses tumor growth and possible metastases.
Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Russian news agency TASS that the use of artificial neural networks could reduce the computing time required to create a personalized cancer vaccine to less than an hour, which is currently one. It is a long process.
Russia’s vaccine chief said, “Creating a personalized vaccine takes a lot of time because calculating a vaccine or customized mRNA uses matrix methods in mathematical terms. We have involved the Ivannikov Institute which relies on AI to do this mathematics.” That is, neural network computing, where these processes should take about half an hour to an hour.
What are the difficulties in making the vaccine?
According to cancer experts, cancer cells are made from such molecules, which suppress immune cells. Even if the vaccine activates these cells, it is not necessary that it can enter the tumor.
Cancer cells, in a way, confuse the immune system. These do not appear dangerous to the immune system and it becomes difficult for the immune system to figure out whom to attack. Sometimes the vaccine also attacks those cells which are not affected by cancer. In such a situation, there is a possibility of greater harm to the body.
On the other hand, in countries like India, cancer is usually detected much later. In such a situation, the tumor becomes so large that the immune system does not have the ability to fight it. This is why there is no guarantee of recovery even after vaccination.
Crores of cancer patients in the world including India
Cancer is a major cause of millions of deaths in the world. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 20 million new cancer cases were reported globally in 2022 and about 97 lakh people lost their lives due to this disease. The most common cancer this year was lung cancer.
Whereas in India, 14.13 lakh cases of cancer were reported in 2022. Of these, cancer was identified in 7.22 lakh women and 6.91 lakh men. Whereas 9.16 lakh patients died due to cancer.
A large number of people in Russia are also falling prey to cancer. In 2022, 6,35,000 cases of cancer were recorded in Russia.
What efforts are being made in other countries?
Along with Russia, many countries of the world are working on cancer. In August this year, doctors started clinical trials of lung cancer vaccine on patients in seven countries including America and Britain. Germany-based Bio N Tech has developed cancer vaccine BNT116 that will treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease. Last year, Britain signed an agreement with BioNTech to start clinical trials providing “personalized cancer treatment”.
In May, researchers at the University of Florida tested a personalized vaccine in four patients with glioblastoma. They found that a strong immune response was seen two days after the vaccine was given. Whereas pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck & Company are working on a vaccine for skin cancer.
India’s first indigenous vaccine against cervical cancer has been jointly developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India and the Central Government, which has been in the market since last year.
Veronika Skvortsova, head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, told TASS last month that Russia is studying several types of cancer, including melanoma, a dangerous type of skin cancer, and glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumor.
