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If we can make RNA vaccines against COVID-19 and we know which errors in our DNA leads to different kinds of cancer, can we make a vaccine that will teach our immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells?

user438383
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Robotex
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    The question is akin to "is it possible to make vaccine against viruses?" - for some viruses the answer is yes, for others no. – Roger V. Dec 02 '21 at 12:05
  • @RogerVadim Currently the vaccines agains HIV and Hepatite are testing. That vaccines bring to your body the constant parts of viruses that are not mutate – Robotex Dec 02 '21 at 13:42
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    what I am saying is that there are throusands of kinds of cancer, just as there are thousands (or millions) of viruses... in fact, many of them we don't even know yet. A claim that all viruses/cancers can be cured is impossible to prove, but easy to disprove. See also Faulty generalization. – Roger V. Dec 02 '21 at 13:47
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    This is not a direct answer to your question, but perhaps an interesting comment: Cancer has many different underlying causes. One of those are viral infections, such as certain types of HPV (human papillomavirus), which are known to induce several different types of cancer (cervical, anal, vaginal ...). HPV vaccine already exists, and it does indeed provide protection against HPV-induced cancer. Therefore, this is – as your title asks – a type of vaccine against cancer :-) – Domen Dec 02 '21 at 14:15
  • @RogerVadim It is not only true for the cancer caused by viruses, it is also true for the treatment of other cancers. I will expand my answer tomorrow. – Chris Dec 02 '21 at 22:05
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    @Chris I did not mean specifically the cancers caused by viruses, but I see now how my phrasing could be confusing. – Roger V. Dec 03 '21 at 06:09
  • @RogerVadim Ok, but I didn't include these and at least mentioning them is probably a good idea. – Chris Dec 03 '21 at 06:36
  • Like vaccines for viruses, wouldn't vaccines need to be targeted to each type of cancerous cell? Also for a number of cancers, there is a vaccine-ish solution. Want to lower your risk of lung cancer, then don't smoke or work with dust without a respirator. Want to lower your risk of melanoma, wear a hat and sunscreen. – DWGKNZ Dec 03 '21 at 13:22
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    @DWGKNZ "then don't smoke" - if technology gives us ability to smoke without hurt, why not? – Robotex Dec 03 '21 at 14:09
  • @Robotex Your reference to faulty generalization is itself an example of faulty generalization. You have reached your conclusion that "a claim that all viruses/cancers can be cured is impossible to prove" by implied reference to proof by example but that is just one type of proof. It is not impossible to prove the claim (albeit very difficult) using proof by exhaustion. One can, in principle, examine every inch of the earth and gather every known virus and test them all. – JBentley Dec 05 '21 at 12:43

2 Answers2

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It is not only possible, these vaccines are in active development. Biontech (the company which developed the Comirnaty Corona vaccine) was founded to develop vaccines against cancer, Moderna is developing similar approaches. It was the research on the cancer vaccines and the development of the mRNA vaccine approach in general made the fast vaccine development for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine possible.

Biontech has published results of a mRNA based cancer vaccine against melanomna in the summer of 2020 (reference 1) which shows promising results, Moderna has shown data from a phase I study on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (reference 2). See references 3 and 4 for an overview over the topic.

References:

  1. An RNA vaccine drives immunity in checkpoint-inhibitor-treated melanoma
  2. Moderna Announces Clinical Updates on Personalized Cancer Vaccine Program
  3. mRNA vaccine for cancer immunotherapy
  4. mRNA vaccines — a new era in vaccinology
Chris
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Might not be the answer you're looking for, but there's already a vaccine for one particular type of cancer - cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is largely caused by a virus though (HPV, Human papillomavirus). See Wiki.

Three HPV vaccines (Gardasil, Gardasil 9, and Cervarix) reduce the risk of cancerous or precancerous changes of the cervix and perineum by about 93% and 62%, respectively. The vaccines are between 92% and 100% effective against HPV 16 and 18 up to at least 8 years.

Allure
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    Note that, if I understand correctly, this is not a vaccine against cancer. It is a vaccine against a virus that can cause cancer but not against the cancer itself. – terdon Dec 03 '21 at 12:11
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    @terdon, one of the users argued the same in his (now deleted) answer. However, would you then by the same arguing say that "COVID-19 vaccine" is not a vaccine against COVID-19 because it is a vaccine against the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19? – Domen Dec 03 '21 at 13:44
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    @Domen The question specifically asks "can we make a vaccine that will teach our immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells?". If these HPV vaccines attack the virus, rather than the cells, then this is not what the OP wanted to know. Which is why this answer starts with "Might not be the answer you're looking for", I guess. It's still a useful answer, but the distinction that terdon pointed out is important. – Fabio says Reinstate Monica Dec 03 '21 at 16:04
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    @Domen: COVID-19 is a syndrome that's a direct result of infection with SARS-CoV-2. You don't get COVID-19 without SARS-CoV-2 infection, and if you have SARS-CoV-2 infection, you have COVID-19; the distinction is semantic hairsplitting. HPV causes genital warts (sometimes), but it's lingering damage from HPV that sometimes leads to cancer (of various forms) down the line (years after you've cleared the HPV itself in many cases); you can still get those cancers without HPV, and you can get HPV without getting those cancers. The vaccine stops HPV, it only indirectly protects against cancer. – ShadowRanger Dec 04 '21 at 14:30
  • @domen that is a false analogy. Cancer is not caused by pathogens per-se, it is caused by aberrations in the cell's DNA sequence. The link between a virus and the disease it causes is far more direct and the vaccine that targets the virus is actively targetting that virus and, by extension, the associated disease. However, the HPV vaccine will have absolutely no protective effect from developing cervical cancer through random mutation (as is usually the case with cancers) and not as a result of HPV infection. [cont...] – terdon Dec 10 '21 at 17:41
  • [...cont] So this is a vaccine against HPV, and by protecting you from HPV infection it can protect from HPV-induced cancer but it will not have any effect on non-HPC induced cancer and HPV is not the only way of developing cervical cancer. You can still develop the cancer if you are unlucky enough to develop the same mutation through other means. – terdon Dec 10 '21 at 17:42