At 31, Molly Hones was preparing to die.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d had a massive tumor removed from her liver the year prior, but was now learning the cancer had spread to her bones and into her blood.<\/p>\n
Hones had a rare cancer called fibrolamellar carcinoma that was now stage 4. After being advised that most chemotherapies wouldn\u2019t work for her, she decided she\u2019d rather have six to 24 months without treatment, \u201csailing off into the sunset, enjoying my life,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n
With a career helping children and families, Hones has long had a \u201cdeep commitment\u201d to serving others. So knowing it might help researchers better understand the disease, she told her doctor: \u201cI want to donate my body to science.\u201d<\/p>\n
If she was ready to do that, doctors asked: Why not join a trial for an experimental drug? She agreed. It\u2019s something she now looks back on as a \u201cmoonshot.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was April 2024. By September of that year, five months later, she was in full remission from her cancer, and remains in remission today.<\/p>\n
Molly Hones received an experimental cancer vaccine for fibrolamellar carcinoma, a type of liver cancer. Molly Hones<\/p>\n
Hones joined a clinical trial for the medication at Johns Hopkins. Molly Hones<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a miracle that helped banish the cancer \u2014 it was a cancer vaccine.<\/p>\n
Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, which attack cancer directly but can damage healthy cells along the way, cancer vaccines teach the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells itself. This allows the body to fight cancer on its own, even years after treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that this is a moment where we really could make cancer curable by using cancer vaccines in addition to other therapies,\u201d Kristen Dahlgren, a breast cancer survivor and external affairs officer at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI)<\/a>, told The Post. \u201cI think we\u2019re about to change things profoundly for cancer patients.\u201d<\/p>\n For the estimated 18 million Americans<\/a> who are living with or have survived cancer, the kind of lasting remission Hones experienced no longer seems so far-fetched.<\/p>\n In August, Moderna announced that their personalized cancer vaccine for melanoma succeeded in Phase 3<\/a> trials, the final phase before moving to the FDA for approval and landing on the market. <\/p>\n The first of its kind, it could become available as early as next year<\/a> \u2014 and is also being tested in cancers of the lung, bladder kidney, pancreas and stomach.<\/p>\n While it all may seem quite sudden, the cancer vaccine landscape builds on over a century<\/a> of research and development, with a flurry of advancement over the last two decades.<\/p>\n Employees work in a lab focused on cancer vaccine research at the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n What exactly are cancer vaccines?<\/p>\n When most people think of vaccines, the prevention of viruses come to mind: measles, polio, the flu. <\/p>\n But most research concerning cancer is focused on therapeutic vaccines, which treat existing cancer.<\/p>\n Both preventative and therapeutic vaccines, though, try to stimulate the immune system, creating a lasting memory so the body can continue to fight off a threat, explained Dr. Cathy Wu<\/a>, a cancer vaccine researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n \u201cIt almost feels with cancer vaccines that all these prayers are coming to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n Molly Hones<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re using the vaccines to prevent relapse in those patients at high risk of relapse,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re \u2026 trying to prevent the cancer from coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n Cancer vaccines can also be either \u201coff-the-shelf\u201d or personalized. Off-the-shelf vaccines target features shared across many patients, rather than being tailored to one person. That\u2019s how we\u2019re accustomed to vaccines working \u2014 the ones we get for the flu, for instance, are essentially the same for everyone.<\/p>\n Hones\u2019s experimental vaccine was off-the-shelf. Her cancer, fibrolamellar carcinoma, almost always produces a specific abnormality across patients. This allowed scientists to develop a vaccine that would work across many patients with the same cancer.<\/p>\n The vaccine Hones received is considered \u201coff-the-shelf.\u201d Molly Hones<\/p>\n But most cancers aren\u2019t so cooperative. They arise as cells accumulate mutations that allow them to grow out of control. Those mutations vary from one person to the next \u2014 and keep piling up as cancer evolves. The result: No two tumors are exactly alike, and even different cells within the same tumor can carry different mutations.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where personalized cancer vaccines come in. Doctors sequence the DNA of a patient\u2019s cancer and develop a custom vaccine to teach the body to target and destroy it.<\/p>\n This process is still very new \u2014 and very expensive. Each vaccine costs over $100,000<\/a> to manufacture. Researchers are now working to streamline that process, with the goal of making personalized vaccines faster and more affordable to produce.<\/p>\n On the hunt for treatment<\/p>\n Cancer vaccines remain limited to clinical trials for now, leaving many patients fighting to get treatment.<\/p>\n Two years on from her breast cancer diagnosis, Ari Nakata had gone through chemo and radiation \u2014 and her tumor marker tests didn\u2019t show evidence the cancer had returned.<\/p>\n But her back suddenly \u201cgave out,\u201d she told The Post, and she was concerned.<\/p>\n \u201cCancer is such a complicated, individualized, personalized disease,\u201d the mother of two said. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t tell you is that not everything applies to everyone. So in my case, those tumor marker blood tests said that everything was fine \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n She got an MRI, which revealed that the cancer had spread to her back, bones, lungs and liver.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was terrifying,\u201d she said. \u201c[But] I try not to get overwhelmed by the big picture. I\u2019m like, all right, what are we going to do next? What are my options?\u201d<\/p>\n Nakata found solace in daily ice baths after getting diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Ari Nakata<\/p>\n She investigated shark and scorpion injections, tried hormone therapy and started doing ice baths. <\/p>\n Nakata couldn\u2019t find what she needed online, so she went to hospitals, meeting with doctors to learn about which clinical trials she might fit a narrow eligibility window for. Because there was no system to get her tissue samples between hospitals, she even packed up dry ice and transported them over herself.<\/p>\n Getting a cancer vaccine<\/p>\n Nakata eventually got in touch with PICI, which helped her enroll in a Washington University cancer vaccine trial.<\/p>\n Her vaccine needed to be delivered through electroporation, in which an electrical pulse opens a temporary hole in cell membranes so the vaccine can get in. The first time she did it, the bed she was laying on wasn\u2019t locked down and \u201ceveryone went flying.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe actually started laughing because it was so ridiculous,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n Nakata\u2019s cancer vaccine required electroporation to get the medication into cells. Ari Nakata<\/p>\n Otherwise though, \u201cI\u2019ve had literally no side effects from the vaccine at all, other than sore legs for a couple of days after, which you can imagine why.\u201d<\/p>\n She received six vaccines, one each month. Then her doctors had good news: 24 of Nakata\u2019s 59 targets had responded to treatment, a huge success.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got great results from the vaccine, and I have really high hopes about what this can open up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The future of cancer treatment<\/p>\n Today, Nakata feels \u201creally healthy.\u201d She has a few more doses scheduled and is on a targeted chemo regimen, which has been \u201cgreat in terms of quality of life.\u201d She\u2019s also had hair growing back.<\/p>\n Cancer vaccines are generally used in combination with other therapies. The upcoming Moderna vaccines, for instance, are paired with an immunotherapy that prevents the cancer from hiding from immune system attacks \u2014 making it easier to kill.<\/p>\n Nakata travels with her dad monthly for her vaccine treatment. Ari Nakata<\/p>\n Combining vaccines with treatments that attack cancer in different ways could make them more effective, and ongoing trials are helping researchers determine which combinations work best for which cancers.<\/p>\n Dr. Nina Bhardwaj, a cancer vaccine researcher at Mount Sinai, emphasizes how many different kinds of platforms are in the works \u2014 Moderna\u2019s uses mRNA, while others use DNA, virus and bacteria vectors, cells and peptides as vaccine platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited about these newer platforms \u2026 We\u2019re seeing that these have the ability to target lots of cell [types] \u2026 I think the delivery capacity is going to be quite enormous,\u201d she said. Many of these approaches are still in the early stages of development, with some newer technologies yet to reach human testing.<\/p>\n But the field is advancing at a remarkable pace. The vaccine Hones received is proceeding with promise in human trials<\/a>. Her cancer mainly affects young people aged 12-30<\/a>, and she thinks of the kids who might one day receive that vaccine \u2014 and get to finish school, adventure around the world and start families.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re at a redefining moment of where all of this is going,\u201d she said. \u201cI think of all of the thoughts and prayers that we\u2019ve had for other people with cancer in the past. Some of those prayers might not have been answered right at that time\u2026but it almost feels with cancer vaccines that all these prayers are coming to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 31, Molly Hones was preparing to die. 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