A cancer vaccine developed by IRIC is voted 2019 Discovery of the Year by Québec Science

For the past 27 years, Québec Science magazine has kept up the tradition: every fall, a jury of investigators and journalists selects the 10 most impressive Quebec discoveries of the past year and the public is then invited to vote for the discovery of its choice. This year, a project involving a vaccine able to treat certain cancers was the most popular among readers, garnering 40% of the votes cast as part of the 2019 Discoveries of the Year competition.

For decades, the search for a cancer vaccine has remained unsuccessful, but a team from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal has managed to change things by searching through “junk DNA”. That nickname is attributed to 90% of our DNA because that genetic material does not code for any protein. But within these misunderstood DNA sequences, Dr. Claude Perreault and his colleagues found the ingredient for a unique therapy.

All vaccines must provide the immune system with a clear target. That target is the antigens, protein fragments present on the surface of the cells. Thanks to them, the specialized immune cells, T-cells, recognize and eliminate the diseased cells. Yet the cancer cells present few antigens that can be identified by T-cells; therefore they remain undetectable and proliferate.

Dr. Perreault’s team systematically studied all of the antigens present on normal and cancer cells and then identified the differences between the two: antigens known as “cancer-specific”. A colossal task which revealed that the vast majority of cancer-specific antigens came from junk DNA. They can serve as targets for several patients suffering from one same type of cancer. The results look promising in mice: some of the vaccines tested cured all of the rodents. This is unheard of!

In order to develop a first vaccine intended for human use, investigators are focusing on ovarian cancer and acute myeloid leukemia. In this context, a recent advance helped to show that cancer-specific antigens are found in practically all ovarian cancer tumors and are widely shared between them. Within the next three years, clinical studies will be launched. If they are successful, the lives of thousands of patients will one day be transformed as a result.