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.
He came home at 10 P.M. and found his 8-MONTH PREGNANT WIFE WASHING DISHES ALONE while his family laughed in the living room … but after discovering they had THROWN AWAY HER MEDICATION, he looked at them and said, “Your comfortable life ends tonight” …
Part 1: The Woman at the Sink
At 10:04 p.m., Ethan Carter stepped through the front door of his large suburban house in Frisco, Texas, and froze the moment he looked toward the kitchen.
His wife was standing alone at the sink.
Eight months pregnant.
Washing dishes while the rest of his family laughed in the living room.
For a second, Ethan genuinely thought he was hallucinating from exhaustion.
He had just survived another fourteen-hour day at a software consulting firm in downtown Dallas. Traffic on the Dallas North Tollway had been a nightmare. His shoulders ached, his head pounded, and his tie felt like a noose around his neck.
For years, he believed every exhausting hour was worth it because he was providing comfort for the people he loved.
But standing there in the hallway, staring at his pregnant wife bent over a sink full of greasy dishes while his family enjoyed themselves ten feet away, something inside him cracked.
Maybe he hadn’t been supporting a family.
Maybe he had been financing cruelty.
Earlier, when he walked in, he’d seen his mother, Diane Carter, stretched comfortably across the recliner with a blanket over her legs and a smoothie in her hand.
His younger sisters had taken over the couch.
Vanessa Carter was busy scrolling through designer handbags on a brand-new iPhone Ethan had bought her for graduation.
Courtney Carter sat laughing at TikTok videos on her tablet.
Madison Carter complained loudly because her food delivery forgot extra sauce.
Burger wrappers, milkshake cups, and fries covered the coffee table.
The air smelled like expensive perfume and takeout grease.
Ethan paid for all of it.
Every bill.
Every subscription.
Every luxury.
“Where’s Olivia?” he asked.
Vanessa barely looked up.
“In the kitchen, probably.”
“Probably?”
Courtney shrugged carelessly.
“She said she’d clean everything.”
Madison laughed.
“She’s home all day anyway.”
Diane calmly sipped her drink.
“Your wife likes taking care of the house,” she added smoothly. “It gives her purpose.”
Ethan said nothing.
But his heartbeat had already started changing.
Something dark and heavy settled in his chest as he walked toward the kitchen.
Then he saw her.
Olivia Carter stood barefoot at the sink, one hand pressed against her swollen stomach while the other struggled to scrub hardened grease from a baking tray.
Dirty dishes towered around her.
Soap floated across cloudy water.
Her oversized T-shirt carried bleach stains.
Her face looked pale.
Exhausted.
Fragile.
And then Ethan noticed tears slipping silently down her cheeks into the sinkwater.
“Olivia.”
She jumped so hard she nearly dropped the pan.
“Ethan—you’re home already.” She forced a weak smile. “I was going to warm up your dinner. I just need to finish this.”
But her voice trembled.
And her knees were shaking.
Ethan walked forward without speaking, gently took the sponge from her hand, and shut off the faucet.
“You’re done.”
“Baby, it’s okay.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It’s really not.”
He took both her hands in his.
They were ice cold.
Wrinkled from water.
Red from soap.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Olivia lowered her eyes immediately.
“You were working.”
“And because I was working, they turned you into a maid?”
Her lips trembled.
“Your mom said if I wanted to be accepted in the family, I needed to help more. Your sisters said they were busy with school and stress. I didn’t want anyone angry at me.”
Ethan felt shame rise like acid in his throat.
“How long?”
She stayed silent.
“Liv.”
Finally, she whispered:
“Since the fifth month.”
The words hit him like a train.
Since the fifth month.
For three months, while he worked overtime to support everyone under that roof, his pregnant wife had been silently cleaning after four healthy adults.
His son suddenly kicked hard inside Olivia’s stomach.
She winced in pain.
Ethan’s eyes widened immediately.
“You’re hurting?”
“I’m okay.”
“Don’t lie to protect me.”
That was the moment she broke.
“I just wanted your family to love me,” she whispered before bursting into tears.
Ethan pulled her carefully into his arms.
She felt frighteningly thin beneath the oversized shirt.
And suddenly he realized something devastating:
Her silence had never meant peace.
It meant fear.
He led her upstairs slowly, helped her sit against pillows, removed her sandals, and immediately called her doctor.
After describing the swelling, exhaustion, dizziness, and stress, the obstetrician’s voice turned serious.
“She needs strict rest immediately,” the doctor warned. “At this stage of pregnancy, that level of exhaustion can become dangerous.”
Ethan stared at Olivia after ending the call.
She looked exhausted enough to collapse.
“Stay here,” he said softly.
She grabbed his wrist weakly.
“Please don’t start a fight because of me.”
Tears filled his eyes instantly.
“I should’ve defended you a long time ago.”
Then he walked downstairs.
The television still blasted through the living room.
Madison laughed at something on her phone.
Courtney complained about online shopping delays.
Vanessa scrolled social media.
Diane looked perfectly comfortable.
Ethan walked directly to the entertainment center and yanked the television cord from the wall.
The room fell silent.
“What is wrong with you?” Madison snapped.
Ethan slowly turned toward the four women he had financially supported for years.
“The real question,” he said coldly, “is what’s wrong with all of you?”
Part 2: The Medication They Tossed Away
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
The silence felt sharp enough to cut skin.
Diane stood first.
“You don’t speak to your family like that.”
Ethan pointed toward the kitchen.
“Who made my pregnant wife clean all of that alone?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Oh my God, Ethan. They’re dishes.”
“No,” he snapped. “What’s serious is an eight-months-pregnant woman crying over a sink at ten at night while the rest of you sit in here eating food I paid for.”
Courtney crossed her arms.
“Olivia acts exhausted all the time.”
Madison nodded immediately.
“She stays home anyway.”
Ethan stared at them in disbelief.
“She’s carrying my child.”
Diane’s expression hardened instantly.
“And she lives in my house.”
That sentence destroyed whatever patience he still had left.
Ethan inhaled slowly.
“No,” he said quietly. “This is my house. I bought it. I pay every bill here. And tonight, the free ride ends.”
The room went still.
Vanessa frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means every card connected to my accounts is canceled.”
Courtney laughed nervously.
“You’re bluffing.”
Ethan pulled out his phone.
“I already shut them off.”
Madison immediately grabbed her wallet and checked her banking app.
A second later her face turned white.
“My card’s declined.”
Diane stepped closer, horrified.
“You would do this to your own mother?”
Ethan looked her directly in the eyes.
“My wife is upstairs trying not to collapse from exhaustion.”
Then Vanessa muttered something under her breath.
Something that made the room colder.
“Well maybe if Olivia stopped acting like some delicate pregnant princess, none of this would be happening.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa froze.
Courtney looked terrified.
Madison suddenly wouldn’t look at him.
A horrible feeling twisted inside Ethan’s stomach.
“What did you do?”
Vanessa crossed her arms defensively.
“It was just a test.”
“A test?”
“She kept talking about swelling and dizziness,” Vanessa muttered. “Mom said pregnant women exaggerate sometimes for attention.”
Ethan felt his pulse pounding in his ears.
Then Vanessa delivered the sentence that changed everything.
“So I threw away her vitamins and prescription supplements.”
The world stopped.
Ethan stared at her.
“You what?”
“She could’ve bought more,” Diane interrupted quickly. “It’s not like they disappeared forever.”
Ethan exploded.
“They were prescribed by her doctor!”
His voice thundered through the house hard enough to make everyone flinch.
“She’s anemic! Her blood pressure is already elevated! Those supplements protect her and the baby!”
Vanessa finally looked scared.
“It was just iron—”
“It was medication for my pregnant wife!”
Ethan dragged both hands over his face, trying desperately not to lose control completely.
“You threw away medication because you thought she wasn’t suffering enough?”
Nobody answered.
Because there was no excuse.
Only cruelty.
Ethan turned and sprinted upstairs.
Olivia was curled on the bed holding her stomach weakly when he entered.
She immediately looked nervous.
“What happened?”
He dropped beside the bed.
“They threw away your medication.”
Her face instantly crumpled.
“I was going to replace it tomorrow,” she whispered shakily. “But your mom said I’d already spent too much money this month…”
Ethan felt physically sick.
“You were scared to tell me?”
“I didn’t want to sound ungrateful.”
That answer shattered him completely.
Ashamed.
His wife had felt ashamed to ask for pregnancy medication inside the home he paid for.
Ethan pressed his forehead gently against hers.
“You never apologize for taking care of yourself again.”
Then he called the doctor immediately.
The obstetrician didn’t hesitate.
“Bring her to the hospital now.”
Fear shot through Ethan’s chest.
He grabbed Olivia’s bag, insurance papers, and a blanket before carefully lifting her into his arms.
As he carried her downstairs, the four women remained frozen in the living room.
Ethan stopped at the front door.
“When I come back,” he said coldly, “I want this house empty.”
Diane looked horrified.
“You’re throwing out your own mother?”
Ethan adjusted Olivia carefully against his chest.
“No,” he replied quietly.
“I’m finally protecting my real family.”
Part 3: The House That Became a Home Again
The emergency staff at Medical City Frisco moved quickly the moment they saw Olivia’s condition.
Her blood pressure was dangerously high.
Her iron levels had dropped significantly.
The baby remained stable, but doctors ordered immediate monitoring, IV fluids, and complete bed rest.
Ethan never left her side.
All night, he sat beside her hospital bed holding her hand while machines beeped softly around them.
For the first time in years, he cried openly.
Not quiet tears hidden behind stress and exhaustion.
Real grief.
The kind that comes when a man realizes the woman he loves has been suffering silently beside him for months.
“I promised to protect you,” he whispered while Olivia slept. “Instead I let them treat you like a servant.”
His voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
The next morning, his phone exploded with calls and messages.
Vanessa crying.
Courtney apologizing.
Madison begging him to answer.
Diane left a long voicemail filled with guilt and tears.
Ethan deleted every message.
Then he transferred enough money to cover one final month of rent and groceries for his mother.
Along with it, he sent a single text:
This is the last time I rescue adults who hurt my wife.
Three days later, Olivia was discharged safely.
The baby had stabilized.
Doctors prescribed stronger medication, less stress, and strict rest.
Ethan immediately took time off work for the first time in years.
When they returned home, the house felt completely different.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
Clean.
Most importantly, the kitchen sink was empty.
That evening, Ethan cooked homemade soup himself and carried it upstairs to Olivia.
“From now on,” he said while setting the tray beside her, “you rest. I’ll handle everything else.”
She smiled weakly.
“You’re becoming overprotective.”
He kissed her forehead gently.
“No. I’m finally becoming your husband.”
Two weeks later, labor started just after midnight.
Ethan drove through sleeping Texas streets like a man outrunning disaster.
At 6:52 a.m., their son entered the world screaming loudly enough to echo through the hospital hallway.
Noah Carter.
Seven pounds, four ounces.
Dark hair like his father.
Strong lungs.
Healthy heartbeat.
When the nurses placed him against Olivia’s chest, she burst into tears.
“Look at him,” she whispered shakily. “After everything… he’s okay.”
Ethan kissed her forehead.
Then his son’s tiny head.
“He’ll never know what happened in that kitchen,” he promised softly.
The months that followed were exhausting but peaceful.
Ethan stopped living at the office.
He came home early.
Cooked dinner.
Changed diapers.
Walked Noah through the halls late at night whispering stories about how his father almost lost sight of what family truly meant.
Meanwhile, messages from his relatives slowly changed.
First anger.
Then guilt.
Then genuine remorse.
One night, Diane finally sent a message that felt different.
Your sisters all found jobs.
Vanessa works retail now.
Courtney got hired at a restaurant.
Madison started cosmetology school.
I’m caring for an elderly woman in McKinney.
Life is harder now.
But we finally understand what we did to Olivia.
Please let us apologize someday.
Ethan handed the phone to Olivia quietly.
“What do you think?”
She looked down at sleeping baby Noah in her arms.
Then back at Ethan.
“I forgive them,” she said softly. “But I won’t ever forget.”
Several weeks later, they agreed to a short visit.
Boundaries included.
Diane arrived carrying homemade peach cobbler.
The sisters brought small gifts for the baby:
A stuffed elephant.
A children’s book.
Tiny blue pajamas.
Nobody mentioned money.
Nobody asked for help.
Nobody complained.
Instead, they apologized to Olivia again and again.
As the visit ended, Diane paused by the doorway.
“I thought strong women stayed silent and endured everything,” she admitted quietly. “But Olivia taught me real strength means asking for help before you break.”
Ethan couldn’t answer.
His throat closed too tightly.
Six months later, one quiet autumn night, Noah started crying just after midnight.
Ethan warmed a bottle and walked toward the kitchen.
That was when he saw Olivia standing barefoot beneath the refrigerator light wearing oversized pajamas, her hair loose around her shoulders.
And suddenly, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked softly.
She smiled faintly while pouring herself water.
“I was thinking about that night,” she admitted. “The dishes. The sink. I really believed you were going to choose them over me.”
Ethan walked toward her slowly and wrapped both arms around her waist.
“I almost chose their comfort,” he whispered honestly. “But when I saw you crying into dishwater, something inside me finally woke up.”
Olivia leaned back gently against his chest.
“That night changed everything.”
Ethan kissed the side of her head softly.
“No,” he murmured.
“That night finally made me the man you deserved all along.”
Behind them, baby Noah made a tiny sleepy sound from his crib.
They both laughed quietly.
The kitchen stayed peaceful after that.
No dirty dishes.
No tears falling into sink water.
No humiliation hiding behind silence.
Only moonlight shining across a clean kitchen… and a family that finally felt safe.
