Health
COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines May Boost Cancer Survival
Health Points
- A COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was linked to longer survival for people with stage 3 or 4 cancer on immunotherapy.
- The benefit was seen in both advanced lung and melanoma patients who received the vaccine near the start of their treatment.
- Experts believe mRNA vaccines may help activate the immune system to better target cancer cells.
New research suggests that people with advanced cancer undergoing immunotherapy may live longer if they receive a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine close to the start of treatment. Study coauthor Dr. Elias Sayour calls these preliminary findings a potential “new paradigm” for cancer care if confirmed by larger clinical trials.
“This is really exciting,” says Dr. Tanya Evans, who was not involved in the study.
The study examined more than 1,000 patients with advanced lung or skin cancers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Immunotherapy works by training the body’s defenses to find and destroy cancer cells.
Lung cancer patients who received a COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy nearly doubled their average survival, from 20.6 to 37.3 months. For those with advanced melanoma, the average survival increased from 26.7 months to up to 40 months with the vaccine.
“These findings are important because they suggest that widely available mRNA vaccines designed to target COVID-19 might help patients’ immune systems kill their cancer,” says Dr. Adam Grippin, the study’s lead author.
Researchers did not find this survival boost with the flu or pneumonia vaccines, which are not mRNA-based. Dr. Nilesh Vora highlights that mRNA vaccines are unique in how they work.
Messenger RNA vaccines prompt human cells to make a harmless piece of the virus, leading the immune system to prepare defenses. This heightened immune alertness may benefit people fighting cancer.
While the exact reasons are still under study, experts propose that mRNA vaccines increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy. “The mRNA vaccines increase the likelihood of conventional immunotherapy working,” Dr. Sayour suggests.
Dr. Grippin describes the mRNA vaccine as a “siren” rousing the body’s immune system to attack tumor cells, particularly when paired with immunotherapy drugs.
“In a sense, the vaccine expands the tumor cells and the immune therapy keeps it going for a stronger reaction,” says Dr. Evans.
The findings open the door to the possibility of using universal or cancer-specific vaccines as part of future care, notes Dr. Vora. Dr. Evans explains that future vaccines could teach cells to target cancer directly by building personalized immune defenses.
This research used observational data, so experts say more rigorous clinical trials are needed to prove the benefits. Plans for a phase 3 trial are already in progress.
Curious about how vaccines might shape the next wave of cancer treatments? Stay tuned for more updates as new research emerges.
