Scientists Launch the World’s First Trial of a Vaccine Designed to Prevent Lung Cancer

Researchers from University College London and the University of Oxford have announced the launch of the world’s first clinical trial of an experimental vaccine designed to prevent lung cancer in people at high risk, reports News Medical Live Sciences.

The first phase of the trial will focus on determining the optimal vaccine dosage and assessing its safety. The trial is expected to begin in the summer of 2026, pending all necessary regulatory approvals.

According to Professor Mariam Jamal-Hanjani of the UCL Cancer Institute, fewer than ten percent of people with lung cancer survive longer than ten years.

The situation needs to change, and one way to do that is to stop the disease at the earliest stages of its development. She emphasizes that the “LungVax” trial will be the first important step toward offering a vaccine to those at greatest risk.

During the study, specialists will closely monitor how the body responds to vaccination, how easy it is to administer, and who might benefit from it most. The professor stresses that a preventive vaccine will not replace quitting smoking — the main way to reduce risk — but its development may help prevent some cases of cancer before they even arise.

Lung cancer cells differ from healthy cells because their surfaces display special “alarm” proteins that emerge due to DNA mutations. These proteins, known as neoantigens and tumor-associated antigens, appear at the earliest stages of the disease. The LungVax vaccine contains a set of genetic instructions that train the immune system to recognize these abnormal proteins on altered cells and destroy them before they develop into a full tumor.

The technology used to deliver these genetic instructions was developed at the University of Oxford during the COVID-19 pandemic and has now been adapted to fight lung cancer.

Professor Sarah Blagden, co-founder of the LungVax project at Oxford, notes that lung cancer remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with survival rates barely improving over decades. The new vaccine offers the first opportunity to actively prevent the disease from developing. Years of research into the earliest changes in cancer cells will now be put to the test.

In the first stage, scientists will study the vaccine’s safety and efficacy in people who have been treated for early-stage lung cancer and are at high risk of recurrence.

In addition, the vaccine will be tested in people undergoing lung cancer screening as part of the national program in England. If results are promising, the trial will gradually expand to include people from broader high-risk groups.

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