New Direction in Cancer Treatment: Personalised Cancer Vaccines
Personalised cancer vaccines represent a revolutionary breakthrough in oncology. Prepared from circulating tumour cells (CTCs) isolated from the patient’s own blood, each dose is custom-made according to the patient’s unique tumour characteristics, offering eligible patients a more targeted and precise treatment option.
This exciting therapy marks a new-generation advance in cancer vaccine technology, breaking free from the traditional “one-size-fits-all” model and ushering in a truly personalised and precision-driven era of cancer care.
The new era of precision medicine begins with personalized cancer vaccines.
Personalised Cancer Vaccines
In conventional cancer treatment, patients often receive the same types of therapy: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or targeted therapy. Yet every person’s cancer is actually different. Tumour genetic alterations, antigen expression, and immune responses all vary from individual to individual.
The birth of personalised cancer vaccines was precisely to address this heterogeneity. They use antigen information from the patient’s own tumour cells or circulating tumour cells (CTCs) to create a vaccine exclusive to that patient, training the immune system to recognise and attack the cancer cells.
This is not merely a treatment modality — it is a medical revolution from “standardised” to “personalised” care, turning the body into its own most powerful defender.
What Is a Personalised Cancer Vaccine
If a patient is considering this cancer vaccine therapy, they will typically go through the following steps:
1. Blood Draw and Genetic Testing
The entire treatment begins with a simple blood draw. From the patient’s blood sample, the laboratory uses advanced technology — a high-end flow cytometer — to isolate circulating tumour cells. This process yields a stable and representative tumour cell sample, laying a solid foundation for creating the patient’s exclusive personalised cancer vaccine.
2. Manufacturing the Patient-Specific Cancer Vaccine
The isolated tumour cells undergo a tightly controlled preparation process that preserves intact antigen components — including cell membranes, mitochondria, RNA, and DNA. These are the unique signature signals of the patient’s own tumour, used to train the immune system to recognise cancer cells and produce a truly personalised cancer vaccine exclusive to that patient.
3. Vaccination Course (Approximately 9 Weeks)
This vaccine “teaches” your immune system to recognise the unique features of your cancer cells, enabling your body to actively identify and attack them. Unlike conventional treatments, it does not suppress or damage the immune system — it strengthens your natural defences and helps your body remember long-term how to fight the cancer. Because the vaccine material comes entirely from your own cells, compatibility is excellent and side effects are relatively few. Most patients tolerate the entire course very well.
4. Follow-Up Monitoring
After completing the vaccination course, the medical team will arrange follow-up tests around day 72, such as circulating tumour cell (CTC) blood testing. These tests help doctors determine whether the vaccine has successfully activated the immune system and whether tumour cells have decreased. Based on the results, the physician will evaluate efficacy and formulate the next treatment or monitoring plan, ensuring the body continues to maintain a strong immune response against the cancer.
How Does a Personalised Cancer Vaccine Work?
The principle of a cancer vaccine is to use the unique characteristics of the patient’s own tumour cells to re-awaken the immune system so it recognises cancer cells again.
Treatment begins with a simple blood draw. The laboratory uses advanced flow cytometry to isolate circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from the blood. These cells are specially processed to create a cell lysate vaccine containing complete tumour antigens.
When the vaccine is injected, dendritic cells in the immune system absorb these antigens and activate T-cells to attack cancer cells bearing the same markers.
Because the entire process uses the patient’s own cells, the reaction is generally gentle, with fewer side effects, while generating a highly specific and long-lasting immune response.
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Advantages of Personalised Cancer Vaccines
- Tailor-made for you — The vaccine is made from tumour cells isolated from your own blood, perfectly matching the unique characteristics of your cancer.
- Activates your immune system’s natural defence — It helps your body recognise and attack cancer cells instead of relying solely on drugs to kill them.
- Broader antigen coverage — Uses whole tumour cell lysate containing multiple components (cell membrane, mitochondria, RNA, DNA, etc.), making it more effective against heterogeneous and mutating cancer cells.
- High compatibility, fewer side effects — Since the material comes from your own body, it is theoretically much better tolerated than foreign treatments.
- Can be integrated with other therapies — This treatment can be part of a comprehensive cancer plan and combined with surgery, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy.
