28/08/2026
A recent Phase 1 clinical trial has shown the potential of a pancreatic cancer vaccine.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common form of pancreatic cancer, is often not detected until the advanced stages because of the limited symptoms it causes early on, leading to poor survival rates for patients.
However, PDAC tumors develop slowly over decades from more benign cysts or lesions.
Since 10% of people who develop PDAC have a genetic predisposition, this provides an opportunity for clinicians to introduce interventions early that could delay or even completely prevent the progression of pancreatic cancer.
A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University explored the potential of a vaccine targeting the most common mutations in the KRAS gene, one of the most frequently affected cell growth genes in PDAC and pancreatic lesions.
In the clinical trial, the team showed that this cancer vaccine induced protective, antigen-specific T cell responses and slowed the progression of lesions to pancreatic cancer in participants with these growths.
The researchers identified the six most common mutant KRAS (mKRAS) variations in PDAC tumors and incorporated them into a peptide-based vaccine.
The research team recruited individuals with a genetic predisposition for PDAC and confirmation of pancreatic lesions that have not proceeded to cancer. They administered their peptide-based mKRAS vaccine to the 20 patients who met these criteria in a series of four immunization timepoints. At each visit and four weeks after the final vaccination, the researchers collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells to assess immune responses.
Overall, patients reported only mild side effects, such as fatigue, chills, and flu-like symptoms, that all resolved on their own. The researchers observed a median 18.2-fold increase in T cell responses against all mKRAS antigens in the vaccine.
Looking at a 16.5-month median follow-up, the researchers reported that none of the vaccinated participants had any progression in their noninvasive cysts and lesions to pancreatic tumors.
In fact, three patients had their cysts completely resolve while another three individuals’ lesions regressed; all the remaining participants’ lesions remained stable.
“Overall, this study represents the first proof of concept for the use of vaccines for interception of pancreatic cancer in human patients,” oncologist and study coauthor Neeha Zaidi said in a press release.
The study titled "First-in-human testing of a mutant KRAS vaccine for pancreatic cancer interception in high-risk cohorts" was published in Cancer Discovery.