At a Glance
- Kevin Heyink, 48, has lived with Lynch syndrome for two decades and has survived cancer in his family.
- He joined a vaccine trial that showed fewer precancerous growths and no advanced cancers after a year.
- The trial, led by Dr. Eduardo Vilar Sanchez, used a modified adenovirus to train the immune system against Lynch-specific proteins.
Why it matters: The study offers a potential preventive tool for the 1 million people worldwide carrying Lynch syndrome, a condition that raises colorectal cancer risk by 80 % in men.
Kevin Heyink, a police officer in Hamilton, Ontario, has spent his adult life navigating the shadow of cancer that has claimed many of his relatives. His father, brother, aunts, and uncles all died of cancer in their 30s and 40s, a pattern that pushed Heyink to investigate his own health more closely. The family history made him realize that Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that increases the risk of several cancers before age 50, was likely at play.
His father discovered he was a carrier of Lynch syndrome in 2009, and Heyink himself was diagnosed around age 20. Since then, he has adhered to a rigorous screening schedule: an annual colonoscopy and an endoscopy every other year. In his 30s, he began having precancerous growths-polyps or adenomas-removed after each screening. The routine has taken a physical toll, but Heyink says the mental stress is equally significant.
“There is (also) a certain level of mental stress that it takes,” Heyink, 48, tells News Of Los Angeles. “Especially as I get older, and now that my brothers have had cancer, and a young one has passed away from it, it’s quite anxiety-provoking,” he adds.
He explains that he discusses Lynch syndrome with his four children, framing it as something they can bring to God in prayer. While prayer brings comfort, the constant vigilance required for a lifetime of screening remains a heavy burden.
After his older brother died of adrenal gland cancer in 2022 and other brothers battled stomach and colon cancers, Heyink began researching Lynch syndrome more deeply. He was the only man in his immediate family to avoid a cancer diagnosis, a fact that motivated him to seek preventive options.
In January 2023, Heyink traveled to Houston to enroll in a preventive cancer vaccine trial. The study is led by Dr. Eduardo Vilar Sanchez, a professor in the department of clinical cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
There are around 1 million carriers of Lynch syndrome worldwide, Vilar Sanchez says. He explains that the mutation in Lynch syndrome disrupts the mismatch repair system, causing the body to produce unique proteins that can lead to cancer.
The vaccine, developed by Nouscom, uses a modified and inactive adenovirus-not mRNA-to train the immune system to recognize those proteins. Unlike other cancer vaccines that aim to treat existing disease, this one is designed purely for prevention.
- The vaccine introduces a harmless adenovirus carrying the Lynch-specific protein.
- The immune system mounts a response to the protein.
- If cancer cells later form, the immune system can identify and eliminate them.
“If someone with Lynch syndrome who has received the vaccine does develop cancer cells or pre-cancerous lesions down the line, the immune system is already trained to recognize these proteins and eliminate the cancer cells,” Vilar Sanchez says.
Heyink is one of 45 Lynch syndrome carriers who participated in a recent phase 1b/2 trial. All participants were healthy at enrollment and had no signs of cancer confirmed by colonoscopies before and after the trial.
The study, published in Nature Medicine, focused on vaccine safety and immune response. It found that all participants tolerated the vaccine and developed a sufficient immune response that persisted for at least a year.
Participants also had fewer precancerous lesions and no advanced cancers appeared during the study period. For Heyink, the results have been “incredible.”
In August 2023, Heyink had his usual colonoscopy and, for the first time in 20 years, it came back perfectly clear. “There were no polyps or anything,” he says. He has since had two more colonoscopies, both clear, totaling three in a row.
The vaccine caused temporary side effects similar to those of a COVID-19 vaccine. Redness and soreness at the injection site, mild fever, and general fatigue were reported. Heyink experienced a low-grade fever after the first dose but had no noticeable side effects after the second and third doses in January and May 2024.
| Side Effect | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Injection site redness | Common |
| Injection site soreness | Common |
| Mild fever | Common |
| General fatigue | Common |
“It will take more trials to truly understand how effective this vaccine is and to get it approved for wider use,” Vilar Sanchez says. “But these results are a message of hope that things are moving forward.”
The trial met its recruiting requirements faster than any other trial Vilar Sanchez has worked on. Heyink says he was fielding emails from potential participants across the globe.
“I attribute all of this to the work of God,” Heyink says. “He’s led me on this path, he’s given me this opportunity.” He believes the trial offers hope for his children, nieces, and nephews.
Heyink hopes that the vaccine will one day be available for his children and future generations. “It’s really important for the next generation,” he says. “They won’t have to worry about developing cancer halfway through their lives.”
The study provides a promising step toward a preventive tool for people with Lynch syndrome. While more research is needed, the early data suggest that a vaccine could reduce the burden of cancer for those at highest risk.
For families like Heyink’s, the trial represents a rare sense of hope. “It gives us a chance to move beyond fear and towards prevention,” he says.
Key Takeaways
- Lynch syndrome carriers face a high cancer risk; a new vaccine shows early promise in reducing precancerous lesions.
- The vaccine uses a modified adenovirus to train the immune system, offering a purely preventive approach.
- Kevin Heyink’s participation highlights the personal impact and hope that such trials can bring to high-risk families.
