{"id":326969,"date":"2025-08-08T04:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326969\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:27:16","slug":"vaccine-trial-brings-hope-for-patients-with-head-and-neck-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326969\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccine trial brings hope for patients with head and neck cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHS patients with advanced head and neck cancer will be fast-tracked on to a trial of a vaccine that trains their immune system to destroy tumour cells.<\/p>\n

More than 100 patients in England will be matched to the trial running at 15 NHS hospitals over the next year.<\/p>\n

Head and neck cancer is a general term to describe forms of the disease in those regions of the body and can include cancer of the mouth, throat or voice box.<\/p>\n

About 11,000 cases a year are diagnosed in England and aggressive forms are difficult to treat; more than half of patients die within two years.<\/p>\n

Cancer vaccines are a pioneering treatment tailored to each patient and train the body to kill a certain type of cell.<\/p>\n

They show promise for numerous types of cancer<\/a> including bowel, skin, brain and breast.<\/p>\n

While other vaccines protect against disease, personalised cancer vaccines are for people who already have it, representing a new type of immunotherapy treatment. It is based on the mRNA technology first used in the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 jab developed in 2020. <\/p>\n

The vaccine used in this study, made by BioNTech, has been designed to create two proteins that are commonly found in head and neck cancers associated with high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Treatment could \u2018change the world\u2019 for head and neck cancers<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

These types of cancer, known as squamous cell cancers, develop from flat, scale-like cells in the outer layer of the skin and other areas of the body.<\/p>\n

Karin Smyth, a health minister, described the plan as a \u201cmassive win for cancer patients\u201d, saying: \u201cThese cancer vaccines could be game-changing for patients facing some of the most challenging diagnoses.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy getting these trials running in our NHS<\/a>, we\u2019re putting ourselves at the forefront of medical innovation, improving outcomes for people living with cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Karin Smyth<\/p>\n

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP<\/p>\n

\u2022 Skin cancer patients to join \u2018revolutionary\u2019 NHS vaccine trial<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The NHS has started rolling out such treatments<\/a> as part of the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, vaccinating thousands of patients against their own cancer. <\/p>\n

The head and neck trial is the third to be run through the programme, which is supported by the Cancer Research UK-funded Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.<\/p>\n

Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said: \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that more patients with advanced head and neck cancers will now be able to access this potentially transformative vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Peter Johnson<\/p>\n

DAVID CLARKE\/SOLENT<\/p>\n

Tamara Kahn, chief executive at Oracle Head & Neck Cancer UK, a charity, said the trial \u201coffers crucial hope to those living with advanced stages of cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chris Curtis was diagnosed with HPV-related head and neck cancer in 2011 and set up a support charity, The Swallows.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

The 67-year-old, from Blackpool, said: \u201cAs a survivor of HPV-related head and neck cancer, I know first-hand the physical, emotional and psychological toll this disease takes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this aggressive cancer, you live in the fear of re-occurrence every day \u2014 so anything that could help control the disease or give people peace of mind is groundbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, a partnership between NHS England, the government and BioNTech, has helped refer about 550 patients to trials for vaccines for bowel and skin cancers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHS patients with advanced head and neck cancer will be fast-tracked on to a trial of a vaccine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-326969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114991257689922440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}