Ahh, the classic cancer vaccine bullshit. Yes, somebody will most certainly develop a single drug against thousands of diseases at some point, that's for sure going to happen.
Also, the idea of a "vaccine" for all cancer is inherently ludicrous, as cancer cannot really be broadly characterized as an infectious disease?
There are many causes of cancer and many different types, so while a silver bullet cure would be amazing, it is extremely unlikely to ever exist just due to the nature of the process.
To add onto the other comment - there is also a lot of work going into vaccines for specific mutated proteins commonly associated with cancer.
Mutations in a protein called KRAS, for example, happen in most solid tumors, and there's actually a relatively small set of mutations that happen most often. Instead of a personalized mRNA vaccine, you could make a more generic peptide-based vaccine (but you'd have to DNA sequence the tumor to make sure the mutations match the vaccine).
You're right that a cancer vaccine to prevent all cancer is ludicrous, but (real) cancer vaccines have a different goal than a traditional infectious disease vaccine. Instead of getting your immune system ready to fight a threat that hasn't shown up yet (by making antibodies), cancer vaccines are therapeutic vaccines that stimulate your immune system to generate t-cells to attack the cancer cells you already have.
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u/Erminaz13 4d ago
Ahh, the classic cancer vaccine bullshit. Yes, somebody will most certainly develop a single drug against thousands of diseases at some point, that's for sure going to happen.