Researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London have been awarded up to £2.06 million from Cancer Research UK, supported by the CRIS Cancer Foundation, to run a clinical trial of LungVax over the next four years.
This phase I trial will investigate the best dose of LungVax to give to people at high risk of lung cancer, as well as looking for any potential side-effects from different doses of the vaccine. The trial is expected to begin in summer 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of the LungVax project, Professor Sarah Blagden, said:
Lung cancer is lethal and blights far too many lives. Survival has been stubbornly poor for decades. LungVax is our chance to do something to actively prevent this disease.
Years of research into the biology of cancer, understanding the fundamental changes which occur in the very earliest stages of the disease, will now be put to the test. This funding means that, for the first time, we hope that people will be able to receive LungVax in a clinical trial from next year.
Professor Mariam Jamal-Hanjani of University College London, University College London Hospital and the Francis Crick Institute, co-founder and lead for the LungVax clinical trial, said:
Fewer than 10% of people with lung cancer survive their disease for 10 years or more. That must change, and that change will come from targeting lung cancer at the earliest stages.
The LungVax clinical trial is the crucial first step in bringing this vaccine to people at the highest risk of the disease. We will be looking carefully at how people respond to the vaccine, how easy it is to deliver, and who might benefit from it most in the future.
Preventative vaccines will not replace stopping smoking as the best way to reduce the risk of lung cancer. But they could offer a viable route to preventing some cancers from emerging in the first place.
Lung cancer cells are different from normal cells. They have “red flag” proteins made by cancer-causing mutations within their DNA. These are called neoantigens and tumour associated antigens and they appear on the surface of cells at a very early stage of lung cancer formation.
The LungVax vaccine carries a series of genetic instructions which train the immune system to recognise these tumour antigens on the surface of abnormal lung cells. In trialling the vaccine, the aim is to get the immune system to recognise these early abnormal cells, and kill them before they start to become cancer. The vaccine uses technology called ChAdOx2, developed by the University of Oxford and originally used for the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, to deliver these instructions to the immune system.
To find out how safe and effective the vaccine is, the trial will initially focus on people who have been diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer and have had it successfully removed, but are at risk of it returning. The vaccine will also be tested in people who are undergoing lung cancer screening as part of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme in England.
If the trial delivers promising results, the vaccine could then be scaled up to larger trials for people at risk of lung cancer.
Professor Sarah Blagden will appear in the first episode of Cancer Detectives: Finding the Cures on Channel 4 this week. The documentary, delivered in partnership with Cancer Research UK, follows researchers leading world-changing research projects which could transform cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention. You can watch the first episode at 9pm on Thursday 20th November or stream the first episode afterwards on Channel 4.
Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, Michelle Mitchell, said:
"We want to see a world where more cancers are prevented. We are now at a stage where our knowledge of the biology of cancer, built over years of painstaking research, opens new opportunities to prevent the disease. By supporting the LungVax clinical trial, we will put the vaccine through the most rigorous scientific tests and take that important first step towards a world where people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of lung cancer.”
Co-founder of the CRIS Cancer Foundation, Lola Manterola, said:
“At CRIS, we are determined to end cancer by funding the most talented researchers. Today, science is giving us the chance to change the future of cancer. For the first time, our knowledge of the immune system allows us to envision stopping the disease before it begins. This study led by Prof Sarah Blagden, aiming to produce a vaccine against lung cancer, brings us closer to that goal, and at CRIS, we see supporting her and her team as part of our mission to save lives."
Read more about the LungVax trial on the Department of Oncology website.