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Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Triggers Immune Response Before Tumors Develop
(www.insideprecisionmedicine.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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Ten years later: we didn't know the autoimmunity risks!
I think the purpose of giving it to people who are at high risk of the cancer make the auto-immune risks later a thing they will at least be alive to run into later; and maybe a fix for that will be found in time.
Given the current result of getting the cancer is very likely death, trading that for a potential of death after years more life seems to be a no-brainer, this FUD-like statement notwithstanding.
This is a vaccine, not a cure. They are given this before they even get cancer, and it's very possible that they weren't even at risk for pancreatic cancer in the first place. But, the vaccine could be worse than the cancer, if it doesn't cure a cancer that never developed and then also triggers some auto-immune response.
Hi, welcome to c/science. If you haven't developed an immediate pessimistic response to all science news, you clearly haven't been here long enough.
You should read the article.
Pancreatic cancer forms on and is generally preceded by a series of pancreatic lesions, and the participants were only people with a history of medically concerning pancreatic lesions and a genetic predisposition to pancreatic cancer.
It’s also a cure- that was how it was (so far successfully) first tested, and they’re only now testing it as a vaccine.
This seems less like a vaccine for pancreatic cancer and more like a vaccine for the cause of pancreatic cancer, like HPV's relationship with cervical cancer. A subtle, but important difference, as that's less experimental than "a vaccine for cancer".
Although, targeting precancerous lesions that were created by their own body is still rather more experimental than targeting a completely foreign virus.
Alternative: Ten years later: nobody is alive who could have autoimunity risks because the cancer killed them.
Lets think of a hypothetical. In 10 years time a million lives could be saved world wide, at the same time 3 people get an autoimmune disease they wouldn't have. Vaccine caused auto immune disease is incredibly rare isn't it? Like 1 in a million rare. People fail very basic risk assessments when it comes to vaccines.