In a world-first clinical trial, our scientists will begin testing an experimental vaccine designed to prevent lung cancer in people at high risk of the disease.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for 20% of cancer deaths each year. It can be particularly difficult to detect early and treat, and only 1 in 10 people diagnosed with the disease will survive it for 10 years or more.

Now, researchers from the University of Oxford and University College London have developed a preventative vaccine called LungVax, which has the potential to save lives by cutting people’s lung cancer risk. Lab tests have shown it can prime the immune system to recognise and kill abnormal lung cells before they become cancerous.

Sarah Blagden, Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of the LungVax project, said, “Lung cancer is lethal and blights far too many lives. Survival has been stubbornly poor for decades. LungVax is our chance to do something to actively prevent this disease.”

We’ve awarded the LungVax team up to £2.06 million, supported by the CRIS Cancer Foundation, to begin testing the vaccine in a four-year phase 1 trial, which is expected to begin in summer 2026.

“Years of research into the biology of cancer, understanding the fundamental changes which occur in the very earliest stages of the disease, will now be put to the test,” said Blagden. “This funding means that, for the first time, we hope that people will be able to receive LungVax in clinical trials from next year.”

How does the vaccine work?

LungVax uses similar technology to the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to give the immune system a set of genetic instructions that help it to identify and kill abnormal cells

In this case, lung cancer cells can be distinguished from healthy cells because of “red flag” proteins called neoantigens. They’re found on the surface of the cell due to cancer-causing mutations within the cell’s DNA.

The purpose of LungVax is to get the immune system to recognise these abnormal cells early and destroy them before they start to change towards cancer. That sets it apart from lung cancer treatment vaccines, which are designed for people who have already been diagnosed.

The phase 1 trial will determine the optimal dose of LungVax to give to people at high risk of lung cancer and examine any possible side effects. It will focus on a small group of people who have already been treated for early-stage lung cancer but have a high risk of their disease returning, as well as some who are undergoing targeted lung health checks as part of NHS England’s targeted lung cancer screening programme. If early results are promising, the next phases of the trial could test a wider cohort of high-risk people.

Professor Mariam Jamal-Hanjani of University College London, who will lead the trial, said, “Fewer than 10% of people with lung cancer survive their disease for 10 years or more. That must change, and that change will come from targeting lung cancer at the earliest stages.

“The LungVax clinical trial is the crucial first step in bringing this vaccine to people at the highest risk of the disease. We will be looking carefully at how people respond to the vaccine, how easy it is to deliver, and who might benefit from it most in the future.”

Tracking lung cancer back to the start

The idea for LungVax can be traced back to our flagship lung cancer study TRACERx, which also involved Jamal-Hanjani. Since 2014, TRACERx and its successor project TRACERx EVO have been uncovering the genomic secrets of how lung cancers develop, grow and spread.

Using information from TRACERx, the LungVax team were able to identify which early changes a vaccine would need to target to stop lung cancer developing in the first place.

Last year, we provided £1.7 million in funding, with the CRIS Cancer Foundation, for the team to turn those insights into a vaccine they could test in the lab. Now the lab tests have shown that LungVax successfully triggers an immune response, the scientists are set up to embark on the next stage of the research.

Are vaccines the future of cancer prevention?

LungVax is the first vaccine of its kind, but preventative cancer vaccines aren’t entirely new. For example, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been proven to reduce cervical cancer risk by almost 90% in women in their 20s who were vaccinated aged 12 to 13. However, this is a more traditional vaccine that works by protecting against infections that can cause cervical cancer. LungVax, by contrast, will help the immune system target pre-cancers – lung cells which have changed in abnormal ways that could lead to cancer.

“Preventative vaccines will not replace stopping smoking as the best way to reduce the risk of lung cancer,” said Jamal-Hanjani. “But they could offer a viable route to preventing some cancers from emerging in the first place.”

LungVax is in its experimental stages, so there’s a long way to go before we understand if it’s safe and effective. Still, the clinical trial is a significant step forward for Blagden and Jamal-Hanjani – and for cancer prevention research overall.

Michelle Mitchell, our chief executive, said, “We want to see a world where more cancers are prevented. We are now at a stage where our knowledge of the biology of cancer, built over years of painstaking research, opens new opportunities to prevent the disease.

“By supporting the LungVax clinical trial, we will put the vaccine through the most rigorous scientific tests and take that important first step towards a world where people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of lung cancer.”