The study, published in Nature Communications, combines immune cytokine and tumor-associated antigen mRNAs into a single injection to treat pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Approximately 50% of mice with pancreatic cancer treated with the mRNA immunotherapeutic cocktail had complete tumor responses and, more impressively, remained disease-free for a year, even after treatment had stopped.

“It’s unheard of to get a response like this in these models of pancreatic cancer,” said Parikh, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Ruscetti Lab. “There have been a lot of drugs tried in the lab that have had good initial responses in mice, but ultimately the cancer always comes back. This is the only study I’ve seen that has achieved durable tumor protection.”