According to the BBC, the vaccine works by telling the body to hunt down cancer cells and prevent the deadly disease from coming back.

It is created to match the unique genetic signature of the patient's own tumour and works by instructing the body to make proteins or antibodies that attack markers or antigens found only on those cancer cells.

A stage 2 trial of the jab, involving pharma firms Moderna and MSD, found it dramatically reduced the risk of the cancer returning in melanoma patients.

The BBC further cites that the Phase II trial data, published in December, found that people with serious high-risk melanomas who received the jab alongside the immunotherapy Keytruda were almost half (49%) as likely to die or have their cancer come back after three years than those who were given only the drug.

Now a final phase 3 trial of the jab, mRNA-4157 (V940) has been launched, led by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH).

University College London Hospitals (UCLH) doctors are giving it alongside another drug, pembrolizumab or Keytruda, that also helps the immune system kill cancer cells.

UCLH investigator Dr Heather Shaw said the jab had the potential to cure people with melanoma and was being tested on other cancers - lung, bladder and kidney tumours.

"This is one of the most exciting things we've seen in a really long time", she told the PA news agency.

According to the BBC, 52-year-old Steve Young from Herts, is one of the first patients to try the shot, this comes after he had a melanoma growth cut out of his scalp last August.

"Scans showed I was radiologically clear, obviously there is still the chance I had cancer cells floating around undetected.

"So rather than just sit there and wait and hope it was never going to come back, I actually had this chance to get involved in putting on some boxing gloves and squaring up to it."

The musician had a lump on his scalp for many years before realising the growth was cancer. He said being diagnosed was a "massive shock".

"I literally spent two weeks just thinking 'this is it'," he said.

"My dad died of emphysema when he was 57 and I actually thought 'I'm going to die younger than my dad'."

The earlier a melanoma is picked up, the easier it is to treat and the more likely treatment is to be successful.

The BBC also shared that the UK part of the international trial aims to recruit at least 60-70 patients across eight centres, including in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Leeds.

The therapy combination is also being trialled in lung, bladder and kidney cancer.