A COVID shot may have quietly given cancer patients a powerful survival boost.
Researchers have found that patients with advanced lung or skin cancer lived significantly longer if they received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy treatment, compared with patients who were not vaccinated.
The finding comes from scientists at the University of Florida represents a major milestone in more than a decade of work on mRNA-based therapies. These treatments aim to stimulate the immune system to better recognize and attack cancer. Building on earlier research from UF, the results also move scientists closer to the long-envisioned goal of a universal cancer vaccine that could strengthen the effects of immunotherapy.
The analysis reviewed medical records from more than 1,000 patients treated at MD Anderson. While the results are considered preliminary, researchers say confirmation through a randomized clinical trial currently being designed could lead to wide-reaching changes in cancer care.
Experts Point to Major Implications for Oncology
“The implications are extraordinary — this could revolutionize the entire field of oncologic care,” said co-senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist and the Stop Children’s Cancer/Bonnie R. Freeman Professor for Pediatric Oncology Research. “We could design an even better nonspecific vaccine to mobilize and reset the immune response, in a way that could essentially be a universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine for all cancer patients.”
