These Next-Generation Vaccines Could Upend Cancer Treatment As We Know It
THE CUSP
These Next-Generation Vaccines Could Upend Cancer Treatment As We Know It
Some of the tech used to make Covid-19 shots could help treat cancer and heart disease.
Lais Borges/Inverse; Getty ImagesThe Cusp
Ever since the first successful cowpox vaccine arrived in 1796, vaccination has become one of our most powerful tools against a barrage of dangerous infections from the invisible bacteria and viruses that lurk all around us.
In the past few centuries since the cowpox vaccine, society has shifted toward healthier lifestyles, better hygiene, and increasingly robust health care — steadily increasing our average life expectancy.
Despite this, instances of fatal illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease, have also risen dramatically. And as the United States population both swells and grows older, these conditions may become even more prevalent.
Scientists have made major progress on vaccines and medicine more broadly over the past few centuries, but many people are still dealing with deadly conditions.
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In fact, the annual number of cancer cases in the U.S. could increase by nearly 50 percent between 2015 and 2050, according to a 2021 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the greatest impact on people 75 and older.
Conditions that contribute to heart disease risks, like diabetes and hypertension, could also soar among the U.S. population in coming decades, a study published last year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found.
But we may have hope for these common ailments. Now, researchers are pouring their resources into creating vaccines for heart disease and cancer — Moderna, the massive biotech company behind one of the leading Covid-19 vaccines, claims it could even have these ready by 2030.
These tools could help stem the tide against the social and physical destruction these diseases reap and, in the process, aid researchers’ understanding of the body’s inner workings. But while they’ve sparked plenty of buzz, these groundbreaking vaccines may not be the magic cure-all many expect them to be.
Harnessing the immune system
High-tech vaccines wielding genetic material like mRNA could help treat prevalent diseases.
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Cancers can form for a number of reasons: genetic mutations, environmental factors, or even by chance. That’s partly what makes them so hard to study.
“Cancer is unique to the person who has it, and so technically, every cancer is different,” Lee Wilke, senior medical director of clinical oncology services at UW Health, tells Inverse.
And since tumors arise from abnormal cell growth, our immune systems often won’t recognize them as a threat and fail to defend the body against them. In recent years, though, researchers have made strides in developing innovative new treatments, with these high-tech shots among them.
Vaccines typically work by inoculating people against infectious diseases as a preventative measure. But a cancer vaccine would work much differently — likely as part of someone’s broader treatment. Some would offer a new, potentially more effective form of immunotherapy, which trains the immune system to combat these diseases.
Doctors could give patients these vaccines in combination with existing cancer therapies, like radiation or chemotherapy, to enhance chances of survival, Ravi Majeti, director of the Stanford Institute of Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, tells Inverse.
“Cancer vaccination, generally speaking, is not about preventing disease,” Majeti says. “It's about vaccinating individuals who already have the disease in a hope to try to get their immune systems to develop stronger reactions against the cancer.”
Moderna’s shots will work by harnessing a type of genetic material called mRNA to teach the body to make molecules called antigens that rev up one’s immune response. This process would likely begin by taking a biopsy of a patient’s cancer cells and sequencing the genes in a lab to pinpoint those mutations.
Then, immune cells turn the vaccine-introduced mRNA into protein pieces identical to the ones found in the tumor, and they instruct other immune cells to destroy cancer cells that carry the same proteins.
Besides these details, Moderna hasn’t revealed much other information yet — and the company didn’t respond to Inverse’s request for comment.
Other pharmaceutical companies known for their Covid-19 shots are also getting in on the action. BioNTech recently created a vaccine for pancreatic cancer that also relies on mRNA. Scientists just reported that the new shot prompted an immune response in half the patients who received it, and these individuals didn’t show any signs of relapse over about 18 months. While this was a tiny study — it included just 16 patients — the research community found the results promising.
Labs are also looking into vaccines to combat another common cause of death: Heart disease. Nearly a decade ago, a team at Harvard University announced they were working on a one-injection genome editing technique that could help lower cholesterol in mice by about 35 to 40 percent. In humans, it could potentially lower the risk of a heart attack by as high as 90 percent.
Since then, scientists from around the world have also jumped on the bandwagon with designs for a heart disease shot, with many targeting a gene in the liver called PCSK9. This gene tells the body how to make a protein that regulates the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream, and some people have mutations in this gene that put them at higher risk for heart disease.
At the moment, patients can even receive an injection called Leqvio, which comes in two annual doses. It works by wielding small interfering RNA (siRNA), another type of genetic material, to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (also known as “bad” cholesterol) — a major risk factor in heart disease. It does this by blocking the PCSK9 protein, helping the body remove LDL cholesterol from the blood.
But Leqvio can’t do it all: Doctors recommend that people take it to supplement statin therapy and a healthy diet.
Shots of the future
Vaccines for heart disease are still in the early stages.
John Parrot/Stocktrek Images/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images
Despite their promise, these shots are still decades (and a few billion more dollars) away. The researchers working on these vaccines will have to jump through a number of hoops before the Food and Drug Administration deems them safe and effective. But promising cancer vaccine trials have already kicked off.
Wilke, for instance, is the principal investigator for a breast cancer vaccine trial she’s running with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. The team is testing whether people who have received treatment for triple-negative breast cancer — a particularly aggressive form of the disease — respond to a DNA-based vaccine that could boost their immune systems and prevent reoccurrence.
While phase I and II of the trial are currently underway, Phase III, which will look at a much bigger patient population, may not arrive for about five years, Wilke says.
Heart disease vaccine research has also seen some recent progress. For example, a U.S. company called Vaxxinity announced in March that it had begun a Phase I trial with a vaccine that generates antibodies against PCSK9.
Ultimately, scientists can’t yet predict when these novel technologies might be widely available — but many researchers are excited about what new discoveries may yet hold for the future of medicine.
“The chronically, never-moving survival curves for Americans with cancer are starting to show real improvements in long-term survival,” Majeti says. “It's a real time to be hopeful, but there's a lot of work to do.”
The Cusp is a weekly Inverse series that offers a sneak peek at the science and technology that could power our future.
I Returned in Uniform After Four Months Away, Carrying Our One-Year-Old—My Husband Threw Down a DNA Report and Said, “She Isn’t Mine. Leave My House.” As His Mother Humiliated Us Before the Family, I Called My Attorney… Then His Laptop Revealed Their Plan for Monday
PART 1: The Gathering at Oakridge
My husband was waiting for me with a paternity report when I returned from four months of emergency command training in Montana. Although I had imagined our reunion a hundred different ways during those long weeks away, I had never pictured myself standing in the living room of our Georgia home while his relatives watched him declare that our one year old daughter did not belong to him.
I was still wearing the dark blue formal uniform of the state wildfire aviation service, my cap tucked beneath one arm while little Wendy rested against my shoulder. She had fallen asleep during the drive from Macon, one small hand tangled in the collar of my jacket.
That morning, my husband, Patrick Warner, had sent a message telling me not to be late because his mother had arranged a surprise. I had hoped the surprise might be a welcome home dinner.
Instead, Patrick stood beside the fireplace with an envelope in his hand, while his mother, Leanne, remained near the front door as though she had already decided which way I would leave. Patrick dropped the report onto the coffee table with a harsh thud.
“The test says Wendy isn’t mine,” he declared coldness in his voice.
For several seconds, I could hear nothing but the clock above the mantel and my daughter’s soft breathing.
“What test?” I asked, struggling to regain my voice. “I never agreed to one.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Leanne replied stepping forward. “You already knew what it would say.”
The room was crowded with Patrick’s relatives, who were people that had eaten at our table, attended Wendy’s first birthday, and praised the photographs I sent home while I was away. Not one of them asked how a legitimate test could have been conducted without my knowledge.
Patrick pointed toward the hallway without looking me in the eye. “Pack your things and take your daughter with you.”
That final phrase hurt more than the accusation because for an entire year, she had been his little girl, but now she had become mine alone. Wendy stirred and began to fuss, so I moved toward Patrick, expecting some instinct in him to answer her, but he stepped back immediately.
Before I could speak again, the front door opened, and Harrison Ford, regional director of the wildfire aviation division and the senior official who had supervised my training, entered carrying a sealed recommendation for my promotion. His silver hair was damp from the rain, and his formal presence quieted the room almost immediately.
“Commander Warner,” he said calmly, then glanced around the tense crowd. “It appears I arrived at a difficult moment.”
Patrick straightened his back and puffed out his chest. “This is a private family matter, sir.”
Director Ford noticed the report resting on the table and held out his hand. “May I see that?”
Patrick hesitated before giving it to him. Ford studied the heading, the signature, and the name of the testing company with a critical eye.
“Who collected the samples?” Ford asked looking up.
“I used a swab on the baby,” Patrick answered defensively.
“Was her mother present during the collection?”
“No,” Patrick admitted quietly.
“Was anyone’s identity independently confirmed, and was the sample documented properly from collection through testing?”
Patrick said nothing, his jaw clenching tight. Director Ford placed the report back on the table with a shake of his head.
“This paper does not establish parentage, and it certainly does not establish betrayal,” Ford stated firmly. “At most, it proves that someone prepared a document.”
Leanne folded her arms tightly across her chest. “My son deserves the truth.”
“Then he should seek it through a properly accredited facility,” Ford replied coolly. “A room full of relatives is not a laboratory, Mrs. Warner.”
He escorted Wendy and me out to my car. My hands were trembling so badly that I could not fasten the straps on her car seat properly.
“Slow down and breathe,” he told me gently. “You do not have to win an argument tonight, so protect your child, preserve the facts, and let the truth do its work.”
PART 2: Uncovering the Scheme
My closest friend, Joanna Hayes, gave us her guest room without asking for a single explanation. Patrick called nineteen times that night, leaving messages that first accused me of running away, but by midnight, he insisted I had misunderstood everything.
The next morning, I returned to the house to gather Wendy’s clothes and necessary medicine. No one was home, but Patrick had foolishly left his laptop open on the desk in the study.
As I folded a stack of tiny pajamas, a message notification popped up in the corner of his screen.
“Everything worked,” the text read. “Once she’s out, she can’t interfere with the house.”
The sender was a woman named Lindsay Cross. I opened the conversation thread and found weeks of calculated planning detailing the family gathering, the false report, and instructions about making my departure look voluntary.
I scrolled further and found recent bank transfers from our shared savings account into an unfamiliar account. Nearly sixty thousand dollars had been moved while I was away in Montana.
A car turned into the driveway before I could read everything else. I quickly photographed the screen, restored the laptop, and carried Wendy’s bag downstairs.
Leanne entered through the front door just as I reached the foyer. “I told you not to come back here.”
“I came for my daughter’s belongings,” I replied firmly.
“You have already done enough to this family,” she snapped back.
I met her cold eyes without raising my voice. “I am not the person who brought dishonesty into this house.”
I walked past her, still unaware of the official document that explained why they had needed me gone before Monday.
PART 3: The Monday Sale and Real DNA
Director Ford referred me to Samantha Shaffer, a skilled family attorney who often represented public safety employees. When she saw the text messages, financial transfers, and questionable report, she understood the entire scheme immediately.
“He wanted to define the story before filing for divorce,” she explained in her office. “If everyone believed you had been unfaithful and left willingly, he could present himself as the injured parent.”
Her rapid investigation revealed that Patrick had opened a separate bank account eight months earlier. He had been moving money into it in small amounts and had even consulted a divorce attorney several weeks before my return.
Then Shaffer opened a fresh property file. Our house was scheduled to be sold on Monday for far less than its value to an investment company managed by Lindsay Cross.
Because Patrick and I owned the property together, the sale required my official approval. The file included a power of attorney document bearing a forged copy of my signature.
“If you did not sign this, the entire transaction is based on falsified paperwork,” Shaffer said.
She immediately requested an emergency court order preventing the sale and arranged an accredited paternity test. Patrick arrived at the certified testing center with Leanne, both of them refusing to meet my eyes in the waiting room.
Every sample was collected, labeled, witnessed, and sealed in front of us. A few days later, the official result confirmed Patrick’s parentage with a probability exceeding 99.99 percent.
I sat in Shaffer’s office holding the real report, relieved that the truth was finally documented. Patrick’s frantic text message arrived minutes later.
“The laboratory must have made a mistake,” he claimed.
The excuses might have continued if Patrick’s younger sister, Mallory, had not called me that evening.
“After the gathering, I saw Patrick destroying an envelope in the fireplace,” she confessed nervously. “I think he already had a real result before you came home.”
Subpoenaed bank and telephone records soon uncovered hotel charges, secret trips, and more payments to Lindsay Cross. Faced with overwhelming records, Lindsay requested a meeting with us.
“Patrick told me your marriage had already ended,” she admitted tearfully. “He said you remained in the same house only for financial convenience and assured me the baby was not his.”
“I helped him obtain the fake report,” she continued, “but I did not copy your signature on the deed.”
“Who did?” I asked directly.
Lindsay stared down at her hands. “Leanne found one of your signatures in the old mortgage papers, and Patrick planned to sell the property, move the money, and request temporary custody by arguing that your work made you an absent mother.”
She then revealed why she had turned on him. “Last night, Patrick said that if anyone uncovered the paperwork, he would claim you created it to make him look guilty.”
Lindsay handed Shaffer several secret recordings and a folder of text messages. In one clear recording, Patrick’s voice was unmistakable.
“By the time Morgan returns from Montana, everything will be ready,” Patrick said in the audio. “Either she leaves quietly, or we make everyone believe she can’t be trusted.”
PART 4: Unmasking the Forger
The emergency court order successfully stopped the property sale, but we still needed to identify the person who had physically forged my name. The closing attorney eventually located security footage from the day the document had been notarized.
Leanne appeared in the video carrying a copy of my employee identification card. Beside her stood another woman, signing my name while the paperwork was pushed across the desk.
When Shaffer enlarged the video image, my breath caught in my throat. The woman was my cousin, Valerie Stone, someone I had trusted implicitly since childhood.
Valerie and I had grown up together in a small town near Atlanta. After my father passed away, she had helped me sort through his private property documents, so she knew exactly how I signed my name.
Financial records showed that Patrick had paid Valerie nine thousand dollars in three installments. Once Shaffer informed her that clear video evidence existed, Valerie agreed to meet with us.
“I didn’t know they planned to take Wendy away from you,” Valerie sobbed, clutching her handbag tightly.
“But you knew you were signing my name on legal papers,” I said quietly.
Valerie lowered her eyes in shame. She explained that Leanne had learned she was struggling with debts from a failing business.
Leanne offered her money if she would appear before a cooperative notary, use my identification, and sign the authorization. Patrick had claimed it was a temporary shortcut because I was out of state.
“Why didn’t you ask me for help?” I asked. “I would have listened.”
“I was ashamed,” she whispered.
“You were more ashamed to ask your cousin for help than you were to steal her identity?” I replied coldness in my voice.
Valerie confirmed that Leanne knew the paternity report was fake all along. They needed me out of the house before Monday so I wouldn’t catch the illegal sale.
Patrick had invited his relatives so they could later claim I fled after being confronted with infidelity. Every detail had been arranged to create fake witnesses for court.
Shaffer filed formal legal complaints concerning the falsified signature, hidden marital assets, and attempted property fraud. A judge froze the related accounts, protected the house, and restricted Patrick’s access to Wendy.
Only then did Patrick’s desperate tone soften in his messages. “We should settle this privately,” he wrote. “We’re adults and we can fix it.”
I chose not to answer him. That evening, Director Ford called to check on me.
“I heard the situation has grown more complicated,” Ford said softly. “Are you holding up?”
“I am now,” I answered looking at my daughter sleeping peacefully.
“Remember this, Morgan,” he advised gently. “Discipline does not mean enduring whatever someone chooses to do to you, but acting carefully enough that you do not lose yourself while protecting what matters.”
PART 5: Justice in the Courtroom
The official divorce hearing took place in Atlanta in early autumn. I wore a neat navy suit as I sat beside my attorney.
Shaffer presented the accredited paternity report, Patrick’s hidden transfers, the fraudulent house sale, the copied signature, the security recording, and his messages to Lindsay Cross.
Patrick’s attorney tried to argue that he had acted out of sincere emotional doubt. The judge paused and read one of Patrick’s retrieved messages aloud to the court.
“She’ll never find out the first test wasn’t real,” the judge read carefully, then looked directly at Patrick over his glasses. “That sentence does not describe doubt, Mr. Warner. It describes criminal preparation.”
When the discussion turned to parenting, Shaffer submitted Wendy’s health records, daycare reports, my work schedule, and official statements from my friends and Director Ford. The court granted me primary custody, while Patrick’s visits were ordered to remain strictly supervised.
The judge ordered all missing money returned to the marital estate, kept the house protected, and forced Patrick to cover my legal expenses.
In the courthouse hallway after the hearing, Patrick caught up with me beside Wendy’s stroller. “Do you really think you won?”
I looked down at our daughter sleeping beneath her blanket. “This was never about defeating you, Patrick. It was about preventing your terrible choices from shaping her future.”
“You could leave me with nothing,” he muttered bitterly.
“You chose to place everything at risk yourself,” I replied calmly and walked away.
PART 6: A Quiet Future
Over the following months, I rented a modest apartment near the aviation center. Patrick began attending required counseling, and over time he slowly started learning how to be a responsible father during his supervised visits.
One afternoon after a visit, he stood by the door and sighed. “I don’t understand how I convinced myself that you were the problem.”
“Because blaming me was easier than admitting what you were doing,” I answered honestly.
Six months after the hearing, Leanne came to my apartment carrying a cloth bag. She appeared much smaller than the arrogant woman who had once pointed toward the door.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” Leanne said quietly.
“Then why are you here?” I asked.
“Because I watched my son accuse you, and I believed him without asking a single question,” she admitted tears forming in her eyes. “I used an innocent child to protect my grown son.”
From the bag, she removed a cream colored blanket that her mother had made long ago. “I would like Wendy to have this.”
I accepted the blanket carefully. “A blanket cannot erase what happened, Leanne.”
“I know,” she replied. “I came to ask whether I might know my granddaughter again, slowly and according to your rules.”
Her visits started small, lasting only twenty minutes at a time. She read stories, brought fruit, and respected every boundary I set.
A year later, I was promoted to regional air operations chief during a ceremony where Director Ford pinned the new insignia to my jacket. The Georgia house was eventually sold through proper legal channels, and my share went straight into a protected education fund for Wendy.
I learned that real strength knows how to set strict boundaries, preserve facts, and walk away from lies. My greatest victory was refusing to let bitterness become my daughter’s inheritance, ensuring that the harm would travel no further in our family.
THE END.
