Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial

Theory versus what this trial is actually targeted at.

The thing is, the immune system kills rogue, mutating cells all the time. It's part of its job. Cancer happens when one of those rogue cells survive the immune system, by some mutation that allows it to avoid being seen by it. Whatever mutation it uses to evade the immune system and start replicating isn't going to be the same for everyone who has this cancer. There's no general immune therapy you can give to lots of people, beyond what each of their own immune systems are already doing. The mRNA vaccine in the news article is customized to each individual patient, targeting the specific mutations for that person's cancer. It's a way to get that person's immune system to wake up and go "Oh, shit, how did we not see this? We need to clean this up!" There's a terrific popular science book on the history of cancer and the quest for a cure for cancer, [The Emperor of All Maladies](https://portersquarebooks.com/book/9781668047033). Ken Burns apparently [made a documentary based on the book](https://kenburns.com/films/emperor-maladies/), but I haven't seen it.

I can’t speak to the true underlying science, but I do think that our society accepting we will never cure cancer but will render it nearly ineffectual is the best framing.

More accurately Steve Jobs' ego killed Steve Jobs. Fruit can't cure cancer.

My mom died from pancreatic cancer. It’s so hidden too, which is the problem. At the point of diagnosis, she was given two weeks to live. It was literally unbelievable when I heard the doctor say that to her. This is a real scary one. She ended up living 6 months longer, but it actually shocked the doctors. She checked herself out of hospice care twice and she decided the third time, when she was going in to die. I do think that was a big anomaly.

Steve Jobs actually had the form of pancreatic cancer that’s easy to treat. They did find the cancer early enough to treat it. He’d likely still be alive if he actually went with the usual treatment for that type of cancer. He went against his doctor’s advice and he chose to fight cancer with a special diet. That clearly didn’t work.

Steve Jobs initially declined “modern” medicine for his cancer and went a more holistic route, focusing on his diet. It wasn’t until he got really sick that he changed his mind and turned to medical treatments. By that time it was too late. I wonder if his outcome could have been any different if he sought treatment sooner.

What I’m saying is, the US is not the only country doing this research. 

There is no indication from the trial that immediate death is likely. 7 of the 16 trial patients were dead 4-6 years after vaccination. You’d expect twice that amount to die given the standard survival rate. If you exclude those who showed no immune response at all to the vaccine (a prerequisite for immediate targeting of healthy pancreatic cells), only 1 of 8 patients died. Even with that low sample size, and assuming all deaths were attributable to the vaccine, that’s still far superior to the odds of surviving pancreatic cancer. The duty to do good here far outweighs the prerogative and risk-reduction of *do no harm*.