What Are the Facts About the Cuban Cancer Vaccine?

"A cure for cancer has been found!” In this period when sentences beginning with such statements never seem to end, information with roots going back years and renewed every year is on the agenda: The cancer vaccine!

We decided to examine every aspect of the cancer vaccine that has almost become synonymous with Cuba in the cancer field. The Cuban vaccine is one of the questions that most preoccupy cancer patients and their relatives... So what is a cancer vaccine? Is it really a hope in cancer treatment? While cancer vaccine research has been conducted since the 1960s, why has the Cuban vaccine attracted so much attention? I believe you will find satisfactory answers to all your questions on this subject in this article.

The Beginning of Discussions About the Cuban Cancer Vaccine

People became acquainted with the Cuban cancer vaccine in 2013 through news stories creating the impression that “a vaccine for cancer has been found”. In research about the vaccine presented at the American Cancer Congress that same year, 176 patients were divided into two groups. Patients with fourth-stage non-small cell lung cancer were given chemotherapy drugs no longer preferred for this patient group in clinics. Those who responded were divided into two groups, with one group receiving the vaccine. Survival in the vaccinated group was found to be 2 months longer than in the group left untreated. Before articles containing comprehensive study data had even been published in a scientific journal, the power of press reports created an impression of a treatment effective in almost every cancer type and offering a cure. Also influenced by the perception of Cuba’s innocence, many patients with every type of cancer tried to reach Cuba seeking a cure during this period. Some patients disrupted their treatments on this journey and reached the point of losing their health. The truth was that the vaccine could only be used in fourth-stage lung cancer, and scientific data still indicated it was insufficient even in this cancer type.

Does the Cuban Vaccine Have an Area of Application?

The scientific conclusion drawn from the article about this vaccine published in 2014 in Clinical Cancer Research was that the vaccine could be tested in clinical trials rather than used to treat fourth-stage lung cancer. It is a known fact that doctors serving cancer patients in oncology clinics in Türkiye push their humanitarian efforts within a scientific framework to the utmost. Taking this fact into account and avoiding reports that may lead to misunderstandings will also prevent patients from entering a state of mind that could adversely affect their treatment processes.

Where Does Cuba Stand in Health Research?

With biotechnology investments beginning in Cuba in the 1960s, Cuba became able to meet 80 percent of its own medicinal drug needs and, in 2005, brought its biotechnology product exports to 300 million dollars. Thus, Cuba’s biotechnology industry began developing innovative vaccines. For example, the Hepatitis B vaccine developed in this country received FDA pre-qualification in 2001 and is currently sold in more than 30 countries. The meningitis vaccine is sent to Latin American countries. After 2000, Cuba submitted a considerable number of patent applications relating to cancer vaccines. However, the data for vaccines claimed to have proven benefit failed to convince the international scientific community and received no approval in any Western country, including ours.

Why Is Achieving the Same Success with a Cancer Vaccine So Difficult?

Because cancer is not a single disease. While fighting the cancer cell, multiple problems that actively participate in the process occur simultaneously.

The difficulties in cancer treatment can be summarized as follows:

1. This group of diseases contains mechanisms, some of which have not yet been clarified, numbering in the thousands and varying widely in molecular and genetic type,
2. Cancers organize within a complex tumor microenvironment in the human body, and
3. Cancer cells behave almost like an intelligent organism, rapidly adapting themselves to environmental conditions and consequently developing resistance to drugs.

Cuba is not alone in experiencing difficulties with lung cancer vaccines. To date, large clinical trials with lung cancer vaccines developed against proteins called MAGE-A3, MUC-1, BLP25 and tecemotide, particularly found on the lung cancer cell surface, have also failed.

How Does the Cuban Vaccine Work?

There are currently 2 types of Cuban vaccines known to be actively marketed: CimaVax-EGF and Vaxira.

CimaVax is a peptide / antigen vaccine. Peptide vaccines aim to activate the immune system using certain proteins or parts of proteins on cancer cell surfaces. Cancer antigens are also mixed with molecules that help the vaccine work better. These molecules are called adjuvants. Adjuvants help the body recognize cells as foreign and generate an immune response. Cytokines (interleukin 2) can be given as an example of adjuvants.

When the Cuban vaccine is mentioned, the first that comes to mind is CimaVax . In this vaccine, the molecule called EGF (an antigen with a peptide structure) is enriched with adjuvants and injected into the patient. In response, the aim is to generate an immune response through antigen-presenting cells and antibody-producing B cells in the patient. EGF binds to its own receptor (EGFR), found particularly at high levels on certain cancer cell surfaces. The antibodies whose formation is triggered by the vaccine are intended to bind this EGF and prevent the EGFR receptor from signaling the cancer cell to grow and multiply.

Varixa vaccine, on the other hand, targets the cell membrane component NeuGcGM3, found at high levels in lung cancer cells, and an antibody called racotumomab developed against this molecular target is injected into the patient.

About the Effectiveness of the Cuban Vaccine

Despite approximately 10 years passing, no scientific publication has shown that these vaccines make a significant contribution to survival in patients with lung cancer or any other cancer. In parallel, they have not so far received approval for use from any country’s health authority. Currently, they are marketed similarly to alternative medicine products and used almost as a vehicle for health tourism.

The immune response offered by Cuban vaccines is through antibodies rather than the main cells of the immune system (T cells, NK cells and macrophages), so a very short-lived benefit is observed. They also produce a weak immune response. In addition, non-small cell lung cancer has many antigens. Therefore, the treatment effect of this vaccine targeting a single antigen is low. Lung cancers are cancer types in which the tumor microenvironment is highly influential. Different cells in the tumor microenvironment suppress the immune system. This leads to a reduction in the effect of cancer vaccines that increase immune system activity.

Has Vaccine Treatment in Lung Cancer Been Completely Shelved?

After vaccine studies, particularly following the success achieved in immunotherapies , the relationship between cancer cells and defense cells is now better understood. Whereas previously the aim was simply to activate the body’s defense cells with a developed cancer vaccine, braking mechanisms in the cancer patient’s defense cells have now been identified. Combinations of vaccines with newly developed drugs that remove these braking mechanisms may perhaps offer physicians the result they seek. However, patient treatment cannot be based on assumptions without scientific evidence.

Can Patients with Fourth-Stage Lung Cancer Receive This Vaccine?

The study conducted is scientifically very weak. A reliable study should use current proven treatments, and a new drug or vaccine should be compared with a treatment group receiving a proven treatment used in routine practice, rather than with a weakened group, meaning a group left untreated. We see that survival of approximately 8 months obtained in the Cuban vaccine study is far behind the treatment durations we achieve with modern treatments, overlapping with treatment data from 1980-1990. Today, although the success achieved in breast cancer has not been matched in fourth-stage lung cancer, substantial progress has been made. Over the last 15 years, lung cancer has become much better understood, its subgroups better identified, and it has been connected with patient- and tumor-specific treatments called precision medicine. Seeing patients with fourth-stage lung cancer living 2-5 years or even longer, something previously never seen, is hopeful and encouraging for physicians too. For all these reasons, we do not recommend to our patients the lung cancer vaccines claimed by our Cuban colleagues.

Cuba is successful in biotechnology. Its Hepatitis B vaccine received FDA approval. Its meningitis vaccine is sent to Latin American countries.

The data for the vaccine claimed to have proven benefit failed to convince the scientific community. It received no approval from Western countries, including ours.

Turkish Patient Who Received the Vaccine of Hope Died

Burhanettin Çevik, who went to Cuba and was vaccinated after developing cancer in 2013, died 7 months after receiving the Cuban vaccine. His grieving wife Behice Çevik, protesting reports that her husband had recovered with the vaccine, described their experience as follows: Doctors in Cuba gave my husband 6 doses of vaccine. We had two administered there. The other four were administered in Türkiye. The doctors told us to continue chemotherapy. After the vaccine, my husband looked even more vigorous and healthy than before he developed cancer. But the vaccine did not stop the cancer from spreading. Only the pain and swelling in his body decreased. After 5 months, resistance to the drug was broken. The cancer spread throughout his body. He stayed in intensive care for one month. His last wish was to see his daughter in a wedding dress. We lost Burhanettin the day after the wedding. Although a year has passed since his death, reports are still being published that the drug was effective in my husband. The vaccine definitely does not prevent cancer. It only offers a pain-free period for those wanting to live a little longer.