Catherine Wu: Cancer Vaccine Research

• Catherine Wu has made significant progress in cancer research, specifically in the development of a cancer vaccine.
• Wu's work enables the creation of personalized vaccines for cancer patients.
• This progress offers a potential treatment option for various cancers, including currently incurable types.

Melanoma

• Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, is a common and threatening cancer.
• Current treatments for melanoma have improved, but new strategies are needed.
• Some patients do not respond well to current melanoma treatments, creating a need for new treatments.
• Catherine Wu's research focuses on improving outcomes for melanoma patients and those with other cancers lacking effective treatments.

Tumors and Mutations

• Tumors consist of cells that divide and grow uncontrollably.
• Tumor cells accumulate mutations (DNA faults) over time.
• The immune system often struggles to recognize cancer cells, but can attack with assistance.

Catherine Wu's Research

• Catherine Wu is an oncologist and haematologist.
• Since 2000, she has led a research team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
• Wu's research focuses in new methods to assist the immune system in recognizing tumors, leading her into a new field.
• Wu aimed to develop a therapy that strengthens the immune system through personalized vaccines.
• The personalized vaccine are based on small DNA mutations in the patient’s tumor cells.
• As tumors grow, genetic mutations often occur in their cells.
• These mutations cause slight differences in proteins within tumor cells compared to healthy cells.

Tumour Neoantigens

• These differing proteins generate tumour neoantigens, enabling recognition by the immune system’s T cells.
• Wu has successfully characterized these neoantigens as well as identified which are on the cell's surface, enabling patient-specific cancer vaccines.
• Wu's work has enables the development of tumour-specific cancer vaccines.
• Wu developed a prototype for a tumour-specific cancer vaccine.
• The vaccine is made from a number of the patient’s tumour neoantigens, produced in a laboratory.
• The neoantigens are injected into the patient to activate the immune system.
• The activated immune system discovers, attacks, and sometimes destroys cancer cells.
• This treatment is exceptional because it utilizes the unique characteristics of a patient's tumor cells to produce a tumour-specific vaccine.
• This treatment exemplifies a personalized treatment strategy.
• Early stage research is seeing responses in certain forms of cancer considered to be almost incurable.

Impact and Hope

• Camilla Lindfors received two years of standard treatment for her skin cancer, which resulted in the disappearance of her cancer.
• Lindfors states this is a vital milestone on the road to developing a cancer vaccine for melanoma.
• Wu's research gives hope for developing vaccines for numerous cancer types in the future.

Sjöberg Prize

• Catherine J. Wu is awarded the 2024 Sjöberg Prize.
• Wu expresses immense gratitude for the prize, recognizing it as a shared vision with her research group.
• Wu is hopeful that the impact of her work will be seen across broad populations and become part of standard cancer treatment offerings.
• The Sjöberg Prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and financed by the Sjöberg Foundation.

Catherine Wu's cancer vaccine research is making strides in personalized cancer treatment. Her work focuses on developing vaccines tailored to individual patients, offering hope for melanoma and other cancers. The research aims to improve outcomes, especially for those unresponsive to current treatments.