«MMy arm hurts, but it’s a beautiful pain. It gives me hope that the drug I was injected with yesterday ago is not a placebo, but the melanoma vaccine that l‘Pascale Institute he just started experimenting.” There is so much emotion in the words of Michela Bresciani, the first Italian woman to enter phase III of the clinical trial of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine underway in Naples. Originally from Riva del Garda, in Trentino, Michela recently turned 45 and probably gave her the best gift this year. Paolo Ascierto, director SC Medical Oncology Melanoma Oncological Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies of the National Cancer Institute Irccs Pascale Foundation of Naplesthe one who pHe was the first to manage to bring the anti-cancer vaccine to Italy produced in the USA for the last study phase before its approval.
Melanoma hidden in the ear
«Meeting Professor Ascierto was a great fortune, at least since I was diagnosed with melanoma last summer», says the patient. «It all started in March 2023 due to a hearing problem in my left ear, initially confused with an ear infection. One day – he continues – my ear started bleeding and after one CT scan at Trento Hospital it’s a micro-biopsy the doctors detected the presence of a mole.”
Of course, the location and unusual size of the mole have aroused some suspicion. «At the end of June the doctors decided to operate on me», says Michela. «It was a very simple operation that I then stopped thinking about until, a few weeks later, they told me that i The results of the histological examination had highlighted the presence of a tumor, a melanoma. She was stunned. I will never forget – he continues – the terrible feeling of anguish I felt once I got into the car to go home. I immediately thought of my two daughters, 15-year-old twins, and what our future would hold for us.”
The meeting with the Neapolitan luminary
Michela’s days and weeks seemed to fly by and there was no clear plan of action from the doctors. «I knew I had to do something immediately – she says – but at the Trento hospital they had only scheduled an operation for the removal of a ‘sentinel’ lymph node in October. I got angry, I didn’t want to waste time. I would have gone to the ends of the earth if it had helped.
So I did a series of web searches to understand who was the greatest expert on melanoma to the world and I have found Professor Ascierto. I couldn’t believe that the greatest luminary worked in Naples, moreover in the same institute where the histological examination of my tumor was carried out.” The patient felt the same disbelief when she managed to have an appointment with the Neapolitan oncologist in a very short time.
“Engagement” in the study and immunotherapy
«After a few days he immediately called me to his office and from there we planned the operation for the removal of the lymph nodes and the reconstruction of part of the auricle”, says Michela. «The situation immediately appeared more serious than what they had described in Trento: mine melanoma is metastatic and so the professor. Ascierto spoke to me with great delicacy and humanity about the study on the vaccine and, without thinking for a moment, I immediately accepted, understanding the great opportunity that had been offered to me. In the meantime I started theimmunotherapy».
Michela Bresciani, the first Italian woman to enter phase III of the clinical study on Moderna’s mRNA vaccine underway in Naples, with Professor Ascierto
Melanoma, what the “tailor-made” vaccine is like
The Moderna’s cancer vaccine is based on same technology adopted for those against Covid. It is not preventative, but aims to support the patients’ immune system to recognize and attack the tumor more effectively. “The vaccine administered to the patient was ‘custom made’ in the United States and then shipped by us to Naples,” explains Ascierto.
«Being a ‘double blind’ trial, I don’t know if Michela received the vaccine or the placebo. But surely the courage of Michela and all the other patients who will enter our trial – he continues – will help us understand how effective the vaccine is. Another piece of information we could obtain concerns thepossible presence of differences between men and women in the response and side effects of immunotherapy».
The dream of flying to New York
Michela remains focused on her goal: healing and bringing her daughters to New York. «I know that the road is still long and tiring: every 3 weeks I take the train to Naples to undergo immunotherapy with all the economic burdens that this entails. But I hold on for my daughters”, underlines Michela. «I’m not afraid of the vaccine, I trust science. I’m just afraid of having wasted time at the beginning – she concludes – but I try to think positively just as the professor advised me. Asciert. Mood can too influence on the effectiveness of treatments and I intend to do everything I can to heal. I owe it to my daughters and to myself.”
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED