Vaccine against cancer may be on the way (and comes from Coimbra)

The dendritic cell vaccine is expected to act against pancreatic and non-small cell lung tumors.

It was with an investment of more than 10 million euros that Tecnimede and the University of Coimbra gave rise to UpCells, a laboratory created specifically for research, tests and research that focuses on the creation of a vaccine capable of fighting cancer cells.

This innovative proposal for the treatment of cancer was presented last Tuesday, September 25, under the title of ImmunoDCs @ CancerStemCells “Cellular immunotherapy aimed at the elimination of cancer stem cells”, a project that includes the creation of said vaccine, which will be developed by the laboratory of the University of Coimbra and expected to trigger an immune response against cancer cells.

Such an innovation is justified and of great interest to cancer medicine because of the lack of success with the more conventional treatments (chemotherapy and radiotherapy).

Educate Your Immune System

Cancer develops in cells of some organ of the human body in the form of a tumor (also called cancer cells) that ‘seize’ a certain organ, can evolve into others and seize it by preventing the immune system itself from fighting and eliminate that foreign body.

That is why, and because of its ability to spread, the treatment of cancer is as effective as it is first identified – which leads to another problem, that of early diagnosis.

What is being done at UpCells is to develop a new therapeutic strategy that will educate and strengthen the immune system so that it gains the ability to destroy tumor cells.

Because each type of cancer has its own specific nature and specificities, the current focus for Tecnimede and the University of Coimbra is pancreatic and non-small cell lung tumors because they are those whose therapy is very ineffective. In fact, lung cancer is seen as the one that kills the most in Portugal, which makes urgent new proposals for its cure.

It should also be noted that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recently approved the first therapeutic vaccine based on dendritic cells for metastatic metastatic cancer. It remains to continue to focus on this type of research of great interest to the entire medical community and beyond.