{"id":807977,"date":"2026-08-09T14:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807977\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T14:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:20:09","slug":"testing-is-underway-on-vaccines-to-intercept-brewing-colon-cancer-before-it-takes-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807977\/","title":{"rendered":"Testing is underway on vaccines to intercept brewing colon cancer before it takes root"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Dr. Stacy Norton was only 7 years old when her mother died of colon cancer, one of several family members struck by aggressive tumors at unusually young ages. Decades later, Norton rolled up her sleeve to help test if a new kind of vaccine<\/a> might protect her and her own children from cancer.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Houston doctor is among an estimated 1 million Americans who have Lynch syndrome, a faulty gene passed from a parent that puts them at extremely high risk of colorectal cancer<\/a> and more vulnerable to certain other cancers, too. They\u2019re often urged to get yearly colonoscopies<\/a> \u2014 far more often than usual \u2014 that can spot and remove precancerous growths called polyps.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now scientists are creating vaccines that aim to go further, teaching the immune system to intercept this type of brewing colon cancer before it turns into a full-fledged tumor. At least three potential Lynch syndrome vaccines are in development, including two in early clinical trials in the U.S. and a third beginning in Britain.\n <\/p>\n

\n The shot that Norton helped test appears promising enough that its lead researcher, Dr. Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, expects a larger study to begin early next year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt gives me hope,\u201d said Norton, 59, of Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital. She had already survived a different Lynch-caused cancer and has two children in their 20s who inherited her mutation. If a vaccine pans out, \u201cperhaps they won\u2019t have to have a colonoscopy every single year for the rest of their lives.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Everyone has what are called mismatch-repair genes, which are essentially spellcheckers to help fix DNA mistakes that can occur when our cells multiply. With Lynch syndrome, one of those genes can\u2019t do its job properly, making it harder for the body to stop a buildup of abnormalities that can lead to tumors, often before age 50.\n <\/p>\n

\n Colorectal cancer<\/a> is the most common consequence. The average person has a 5% risk of developing it during their lifetime. A Lynch carrier\u2019s risk can reach as high as 80% depending on which faulty gene they inherit, Vilar-Sanchez said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Another big risk is endometrial, or uterine, cancer. Lynch carriers also are more likely to get other cancers including pancreatic, stomach, ovarian and certain skin cancers \u2014 and a kind of brain tumor that killed Norton\u2019s sister at age 25.\n <\/p>\n

\n Norton knew some of her mother\u2019s relatives had also experienced colon cancer, but she was in her 40s before a gene test confirmed she has Lynch syndrome. She switched from every-so-often to yearly colonoscopies. As an obstetrician\/gynecologist familiar with other Lynch risks, Norton also decided to have a precautionary hysterectomy. Surgeons discovered early-stage cancer in her removed uterus.\n <\/p>\n

\n Today there are two cancer-preventing vaccines, the HPV<\/a> and hepatitis B shots<\/a> that block infection from those tumor-causing viruses. But developing vaccines to prevent gene-caused cancer is more challenging than alerting the body to foreign intruders like a virus.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lynch-fueled growths \u201ctend to accumulate hundreds of mutations that are going to generate proteins that are novel, not made by our normal cells,\u201d Vilar-Sanchez said. \u201cYou can train the immune system to recognize those proteins.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In a first-step study, Norton and 44 other Lynch carriers tested a vaccine made by Swiss biotech Nouscom that teaches the immune system to spot 209 of those abnormalities in Lynch-caused precancers. That revved up tumor-eliminating T cells and a year later, colonoscopies showed fewer precancerous growths and no advanced polyps, the MD Anderson team reported in Nature Medicine.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cCan we even further stimulate the immune system\u201d to keep up with Lynch syndrome-spurred tumor formation, asked Dr. John Marshall, a Georgetown University oncologist and adviser to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance who wasn\u2019t involved with the study. \u201cThis early paper suggests that yeah, maybe we can.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n For the first time since 2014, Norton\u2019s own colonoscopies one and two years after vaccination were polyp-free. She\u2019s also part of a subset of study participants given a booster shot a year later; more data on that is expected this fall.\n <\/p>\n

\n Oxford University researchers are beginning initial testing of a similar approach to attack Lynch-spurred precancers, a vaccine made by Massachusetts-based Moderna using the mRNA technology behind its COVID-19 shot.\n <\/p>\n

\n And scientists are awaiting results from a slightly larger study comparing California-based ImmunityBio\u2019s Tri-Ad5 vaccine, which flags some different cancer markers, to a placebo.\n <\/p>\n

\n About 158,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the U.S. each year, most of them over 50. Cases in younger adults are increasing<\/a>, though it isn\u2019t clear why.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lynch syndrome affects about 1 in 279 people. While most don\u2019t know it, more may be learning they have the inherited disorder, Vilar-Sanchez said, as genetic testing is increasingly discussed with people with Lynch-related cancer in the family or who get certain tumors at young ages. That in turn can show if close relatives might also be at risk.\n <\/p>\n

\n For the average person, U.S. guidelines call for routine colorectal cancer screening \u2014 with a colonoscopy or other kinds of tests<\/a> \u2014 to begin at age 45. But at any age, get a checkup for symptoms such as blood in stool or rectal bleeding; changes in bowel habits such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of stool that lasts more than a few days; unintended weight loss; and cramps or abdominal pain.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Stacy Norton was only 7 years old when her mother died of colon cancer, one of several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-807977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}