Immunotherapy and the promise of mRNA cancer vaccines

Cancer remains one of the most formidable challenges in medicine. Conventional treatments include chemotherapy, surgery and radiation are often used in combination but are limited by toxicity, treatment resistance, and the risk of recurrence (National Cancer Institute,2024). In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a revolutionary approach in oncology. Classified as a form of biological therapy, immunotherapy harnesses substances derived from living organisms to help the immune system recognise and combat cancer (National Cancer Institute,2019).Leading biotechnology companies such as Moderna, BioNTech, and Genentech (a member of Roche group) are actively conducting clinical trials aimed at developing therapeutic cancer vaccines.9NHS, 2024) These vaccines train the immune system to identify and destroy tumour cells with precision. (Cancer Research UK,2025)To gain deeper insight into this groundbreaking research, I interviewed Dr Shivan Sivakumar, associate professor of oncology at the University of Birmingham and Principal Investigator of Europe’s first pancreatic cancer vaccine trial.