COVID-19 mRNA vaccines significantly increased survival times in patients with advanced lung and skin cancer undergoing immunotherapy. The corresponding study was published in Nature.
"The implications are extraordinary -- this could revolutionize the entire field of oncologic care. 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,” said co-senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a Health pediatric oncologist at the University of Florida, in a press release.
The current findings build upon previous research, which found that stimulating the immune system in a similar way to how it responds to a virus generates antitumor effects. In mouse experiments, researchers found success in combining an experimental ‘nonspecific’ mRNA vaccine with immune checkpoint inhibitors to produce a ‘powerful’ immune response. The findings led the researchers to wonder whether the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine could work in a similar way.
To answer this question, they analyzed records of patients with stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma treated between 2019 and 2023. Altogether, 180 patients with lung cancer received a COVID vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy, while 704 patients did not receive the vaccine around the time of starting immunotherapy. Among these patients, the COVID-19 vaccine was linked to an almost double median survival time- 37.3 months compared to 20.6 months.
For metastatic melanoma, the researchers analyzed records from 43 patients who received the vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy alongside those from 167 who did not receive the vaccine. Those who did not receive the vaccine had a median survival time of 26.7 months, whereas those who received the vaccine had a median survival of 30-40 months, with many remaining alive at the time of data collection, meaning the vaccine may have even stronger effects.
The researchers also conducted experiments in mice wherein they combined immunotherapy drugs with an mRNA vaccine targeting the COVID spike protein. The combination transformed tumors previously resistant to treatment into ones that responded, thus stopping tumor growth.
"One of the mechanisms for how this works is when you give an mRNA vaccine, that acts as a flare that starts moving all of these immune cells from bad areas like the tumor to good areas like the lymph nodes," said Sayour.
The researchers now intend to conduct a large clinical trial to confirm the findings.
Sources: Science Daily, Nature