Kragujevac-based professor reveals: New mRNA cancer vaccine from Russia is great chance for Serbia

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Professor from the Faculty of Medicine in Kragujevac Vladimir Jakovljevic said today that cooperation between Serbian and Russian experts to produce a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, developed by Russian scientists, represents a great chance for Serbia, because if this cooperation is implemented, Serbia could become the first country after Russia where this vaccine will become available to patients.

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The cancer vaccine is based on a similar technology used by Pfizer and Moderna to produce Covid vaccines, Jakovljevic told Tanjug and added that this personalized vaccine is based on taking a tumor sample that is exposed to the patient's body fluids, blood or plasma, after which, with the help of artificial intelligence, a time interval and additional tests, antibodies specific for that patient and that particular type of tumor are created.

"In the previous period, Russian scientists worked a lot on trying to personalize therapy for different types of cancer. The first time I encountered this idea and the results of that work was last year when Alexander Gintsburg was a guest at our faculty in Kragujevac. In a conversation with us and our officials at that time, he brought up the idea to start working on this and that in the future they could establish cooperation with our competent institutions," he said.

Jakovljevic stressed that experiments on animals involving the new mRNA cancer vaccine are fascinating, and added that it is now slowly starting to be used on humans.

"There is a possibility of sending our people to Moscow at this time, we will see how that will be at the state level, whether the state will organize it and what the conditions will be for our citizens. For now, this therapy is exclusively available only to citizens of Russia," he added.

Jakovljevic said that the first patients who will be able to receive this type of vaccine in Russia are those suffering from malignant melanomas and non-small cell lung cancers, and pointed out that it is believed this therapy will be 100% successful even when it comes to metastatic cancers.

According to the professor, in order to use the vaccine based on mRNA technology, it is necessary to first do the diagnosis, wait for the vaccine to be made based on that, and then to administer it for a period of five months in intervals of 10 doses every two weeks.

Explaining what the process of adapting this cancer vaccine to each individual patient looks like, Jakovljevic said that a sample of the tumor and body fluids is taken, and then antibodies are made.

Jakovljevic said that this therapy is intended for those patients for whom all other therapeutic modalities have been exhausted, that is, those who have undergone immunotherapy and all other variants that exist in the treatment of cancer.

"The treatment of all types of cancer has advanced a lot in the previous period. One of the strategies is to insert cancer where possible into a chronic disease, such as diabetes, which is no less dangerous than cancer," he noted.

Speaking about the role of Serbia and Russian experts in this project, Jakovljevic said that this could be a great chance for Serbia because if there is good will on both sides, technology will be transferred to our country so that it has the exclusive right to produce these vaccines.

He added that all those who are relevant will be included in this project, the way the Russian side requires.

"There is initial communication that I personally have with the Sechenov University, where the head of the department is professor Sergej Boljevic, who is the main link in this whole story. We are involved, and probably the entire Western Balkans will be, because this therapy is in good part related to the variables in the genetic material," he stated.

Jakovljevic stressed that various studies have shown that Serbian and Russian genetic material is very similar, which is why this therapy should have similar, or the same results in Serbian and Russian patients.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)