Advancements in breast cancer mRNA vaccines: Current development and future prospects

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have become a transformative approach in immunotherapy and have attracted significant attention owing to their unprecedented success in controlling COVID-19. With their ability to flexibly and specifically encode tumour-associated antigens, along with their favorable safety profiles and scalable manufacturing, mRNA vaccines represent a highly promising platform for cancer treatment. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and many of its subtypes are immunologically cold tumours, which has limited the progress of immunotherapy in this field. Recent studies have highlighted the potential of mRNA vaccines to reshape the tumour immune microenvironment in breast cancer. These vaccines can enhance antigen presentation, activate T cell responses, and convert immunologically cold tumours into immune-active ones. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in mRNA vaccine development for breast cancer with a focus on antigen selection, mRNA design, and delivery strategies. It also examines findings from both preclinical and clinical studies as well as recent progress in industrial development. Finally, we discuss the current challenges hindering the clinical translation and ethical considerations of mRNA vaccine technology and propose future directions to advance mRNA vaccine-based therapies for breast cancer.