A German biotechnology company that developed Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is now turning its attention to cancer.

In the journal Science Translational Medicine, BioNTech researchers said they've seen a great promise after a recent trial showed tumors shrinking in mice, including those with more than one tumor, by using "a saline-formulated mixture of four mRNAs delivered by intratumoral injection."

"The combination led to robust antitumor immune responses and tumor regression in multiple mouse models, including models with more than one tumor," the researchers said.

According to the promising data, the experimental treatment contained four mRNAs, including interleukin-12 (IL-12) single chain, interferon-α, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and IL-15 sushi.

With the success of these latest results, researchers said clinical testing is now underway.

mRNA has been a game-changer for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. It has allowed researchers to more efficiently engineer a less intrusive vaccine as it instructs your body to produce certain proteins rather than have your immune adjust to small bits of the virus it is trying to combat.

The mRNA technology has been used, in theory, since the 1990s, but the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are the first time the technology has been put into practice for human use.

“It’s really fun to be part of this development,” said Sven Even Borgos, a researcher with SINTEF, one of Northern Europe’s largest research institutes. “The basic principle of mRNA is that when you deliver this code, you actually instruct the body to make its own medicine and that’s partly why it’s so fascinating.”

With the COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA that is injected into the body instructs it to produce small bits spike protein, the main way through which the coronavirus injects itself into our cells. This way, the body recognizes the spike protein and attacks any cells that have it, such as COVID-19.

Researchers say that same mRNA technology has been a game-changer for a slew of other viruses and disorder such as cancer, sports recovery, and preexisting conditions.

“There are certain things that we could never do before without being able to use DNA, or mRNA, to put new proteins into cells,” said Bruce Zetter, the head researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of cancer biology at Harvard Medical School.

He says mRNA is not a silver bullet, but it is a monumental step in accelerating cancer research.

“Let’s say we had a cancer cell in someone’s body and we knew it made a particular protein that normal cells don’t make,” he said. “I’ll call [that particular protein] ‘Cancer Protein 1.’ So we have CP-1, and now, what I would do is I would get mRNA to specify CP1. I’d inject it into the muscle in the arm and those cells in the muscle would make CP1 and they’d stimulate my immune system to fight any cell that had that protein.”

Currently, many cancer treatments rely on radiation to kill cancer cells. Through mRNA, however, Zetter says we are training our immune systems to act as the primary fighter.

“It’s almost like you could treat virtually any disease with it because almost all diseases in your body have a connection to a protein of some kind,” said Borgos.

Researchers say mRNA could tell the body to produce proteins to make ligaments, helping patients recovering from a torn ACL.

It could also help autoimmune disorders like hemophilia, which can causes excessive bleeding, as it instructs the body to produce a protein that allows blood to clot properly.

Just a few weeks ago, researchers in Germany injected mice with mRNA, which reduced the activity of multiple sclerosis in those mice. Currently, there is no cure for the disease.

Researchers say we are still years from any type of vaccines for these diseases but say mRNA has sped up their development considerably.

“It’s really a revolution in vaccine technology,” said Borgos.

A Canadian advisory committee says Canadians who got the AstraZeneca shot for their first vaccine dose should not get the second one.

It says they should get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for their second shot instead.

The vice-chair of the board says new evidence suggests responses are better when the AstraZeneca vaccine is followed by an mRNA vaccine and said the new guidance also takes into account the marginal risk of blood clots associated with AstraZeneca.

However, she said anyone who got two shots of AstraZeneca can feel confident they are protected.

This story originally reported by Simon Kaufman and Jay Strubberg on Newsy.com

CINCINNATI —

New research by scientists in Cincinnati is looking at whether different Food and Drug Administration emergency-approved COVID-19 vaccines can be mixed if there’s a need for boosters.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is researching the possibility of using the mRNA Moderna vaccine as a booster for the one-shot DNA Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Children’s Hospital will soon be looking at other combinations of approved vaccines too.

“We know people are going to go do this, so we want to have data to inform the community. It may not be the greatest idea, or maybe it looks fine, it doesn’t cause any problems,” said Dr. Robert Frenck of Children’s Hospital.

Frenck led the Pfizer vaccine research at Children’s and is now leading the research on COVID-19 vaccines for children. He’s also part of the new research into boosters and combining vaccine platforms.

Frenck said there are lots of unknowns about mixing vaccines for boosters right now.

“Does that make any difference in the side effects? Does it have any effect in their immune response? Does it go up compared with people who stayed with the same vaccine?” Frenck said.

Another series of studies are being done by the global company CTI, headquartered in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

CTI is studying a Johnson & Johnson vaccine with a Johnson & Johnson booster.

Another important question is if boosters will be needed at all.

Frenck said the most current data shows the vaccines are as effective at six months as they were at two months.

“We were concerned that the vaccine would only last a few months and we would need a booster. Right now, if things stay the way they are, we may not need one,” Frenck said.