After testing a new cancer vaccine, a 48-year-old father became the only male in his family to be cancer-free: EXCLUSIVE

The only person in her family without a cancer diagnosis, the Lynch syndrome patient traveled to participate in a cancer vaccine clinical trial.

Cancer casts a long shadow over Kevin Heinke's life.

He lost his father, brother, uncle, aunt and other relatives, most of them in their 30s and 40s, to cancer.

Before his death in 2009, Heyink's father studied the relevant family history. And it was discovered that he was a carrier of Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition that greatly increases the risk of various types of cancer before the age of 50, especially colorectal cancer.

Heinke also has Lynch syndrome and since he was 20 years old has had an annual colonoscopy and an endoscopy every two years because of his increased risk of cancer.Once he reaches the age of 30, he will have precancerous growths - called polyps or adenomas - removed after each scan.

While that certainly takes a toll on the body, "there's (also) a mental level that's required," Heyink, 48, told TODAY.com.

Heyink explains the risks of Lynch syndrome to his four children and tells them they can "take it to God in prayer."And while that's some comfort, he knows firsthand what it feels like to be constantly on your guard throughout your life.

After losing his older brother to adrenal cancer in 2022 and seeing his other two brothers suffer from cancer (stomach cancer and colon cancer), Heyink began to delve deeper into the ongoing research into Lynch syndrome.

At that time, heyink, the police, ONE MYTRA, the only man of the conversation, and went to the disease.

In January 2023, he made the first of many trips to Houston to participate in the experiment.

Train your body to eliminate cancer

There are about 1 million Lynch syndrome carriers worldwide, says Dr. Eduardo Vilar Sanchez, one of the study's leaders and a professor in the Division of Clinical Cancer Prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

And while colon cancer is the main cancer that occurs in people with Lynch syndrome, he says, researchers now consider the condition a "cancer syndrome": It also increases the risk of endometrial, ovarian, stomach and intestinal cancers, as well as some brain tumors, he explains.

Researchers think Lynch syndrome may be one of the factors in the recent increase in cancer rates in younger patients, as previously described.

Now, with some clever biology and technology, drugmaker Nouscom has developed a vaccine that can be trained to recognize certain proteins made by Lynch syndrome carriers.By using this immune response, the vaccine can prevent the development of cancer.

So, how does it actually work?Your body's cells divide all the time.Sometimes, our DNA makes mistakes when the cells divide, but normally the body has a "mismatch repair" system to correct those mistakes, explained Villar Sanchez.

However, the gene mutated in people with Lynch syndrome is responsible for the machinery needed to correct those errors.This leads to the formation of special proteins in the bodies of people with Lynch syndrome, which can lead to the development of cancerous or precancerous tumors.

Using a modified and inactivated version of adenovirus (an mRNA-free technology), the vaccine trains the body to develop an immune response to these unusual proteins, explains Villar Sanchez.Unlike some other cancer vaccines that show promise in treating the disease, this one is intended to be purely preventative, he says.

So, if a person with Lynch syndrome receives a vaccine and develops cancer cells or HIV lesions, "the immune system is already trained to recognize these proteins and destroy the cancer cells," Vilar Sanchez says.

Heyink is one of 45 carriers of Lynch syndrome who took part in a recent trial of the vaccine.Basically, they were all healthy when they enrolled in the trial, and none of them showed signs of cancer, which was confirmed by colonoscopies before and after the trial.

The results of the phase 1b/2 study, designed primarily to evaluate the safety of the vaccines, were published in the journal Nature Medicine.These results showed that all participants were able to receive the vaccine safely, and researchers detected a sufficient immune response that lasted at least a year.

Participants developed fewer precancerous lesions and none developed advanced cancer after vaccination.

For Heinke, the results have been 'unbelievable'

In August 2023, he had a routine check-up and, "for the first time in 20 years, it came back clear," he says."There were no polyps or anything."

After that, he had two more colonoscopies and it was clear."He's come back three times in a row with no precancerous growths, which is amazing," he says.

There are some temporary side effects from the vaccine similar to those from a COVID-19 vaccine, Villar Sanchez said.These include redness and pain at the injection site, as well as mild fever and general fatigue.

After receiving the first vaccine, Heyink said she felt tired after a long day of traveling. The next day, he had a low-grade fever and was in pain. However, after receiving two more doses in January and May 2024, no noticeable side effects were observed.

A rare sense of hope

More trials will be needed to really understand how effective this vaccine is and to approve it for wider use, says Vilar Sanchez.But these results are "a message of hope that things are moving forward," he says, adding that "the energy of the participants in this clinical trial was so refreshing."

The trial has been the fastest trial Villar Sanchez has ever run to meet its recruitment needs, and he says he is receiving emails from potential participants from all over the world.

"I put it all down to God's work. He has led me down this path, He has given me this opportunity," Heinecke says.She says a diagnosis of Lynch syndrome can cause anxiety, but the lawsuit is an example of "hope on the horizon."

In particular, Heyink sees participating in the trial as a way to move forward in the future, in the same way that his father helped identify Lynch syndrome in his family.And she hopes the vaccine will one day be available to her children and her brothers and sisters.

"It's very important for the next generation," he says, and it's reassuring to know that "this can be an option for them and they won't have to worry about getting cancer in the middle of their lives."