COVID-19 mRNA vaccine might trigger an immune response that fights cancer: Study

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may do more than just protect against the coronavirus - they may also help the body fight cancer. In fact, the COVID shot may hold the key to a future cancer vaccine.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine sparks an immune response to fight cancer. The findings of the study are published in Nature.

The researchers found that patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs lived significantly longer than those who did not get the vaccine. These findings are significant in the decade-plus of research testing mRNA-based therapeutics designed to ‘wake up’ the immune system against cancer.

They analyzed records of more than 1,000 patients at MD Anderson, and the findings are preliminary. However, if validated in a randomized clinical trial now in design, the study could have a widespread clinical impact.

The researchers have built on a previous UF study combining lipid nanoparticles and mRNA. These observation also marks a significant step toward a long-awaited universal cancer vaccine to boost the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy.

“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,” 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, said in a statement.

The findings point to yet another way Operation Warp Speed, part of the federal government’s early response to COVID-19, continues to save Americans’ lives in ‘unique and unexpected ways,’ Jeff Coller, Ph.D., a leading mRNA scientist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, said. “The results from this study demonstrate how powerful mRNA medicines truly are and that they are revolutionizing our treatment of cancer,” Coller added.

To understand if the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine would pass for a nonspecific vaccine, the researchers analyzed existing data from patients with Stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma treated at MD Anderson from 2019 to 2023.

They found that the patients who received a COVID mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs lived longer by a significant amount. Sayour added that the most dramatic difference was in patients not expected to have a strong immune response, based on their molecular makeup and other factors.

The findings of this study require confirmation from a prospective and randomized clinical trial; however, the discovery is still crucial.

“Although not yet proven to be causal, this is the type of treatment benefit that we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions — but rarely do. I think the urgency and importance of doing the confirmatory work can’t be overstated,” Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., Grippin’s doctoral mentor and director of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, said.

In patients with lung and skin cancers, doctors commonly engage the immune system with drugs designed to 'release the brakes' and recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. When the disease is in the advanced stages, most patients won't respond well.

The new study looked at the records of 180 advanced lung cancer patients who got the COVID shot within in 100-day period before or after starting immunotherapy drugs. They found that the vaccine doubled median survival, from 20.6 months to 37.3 months. Non-mRNA pneumonia or flu vaccines have no impact on longevity.

“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,” Sayour said.

The researchers will next launch a large clinical trial through the UF-led OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network, a consortium of hospitals, health centers, and clinics in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, California, and Minnesota. “One of our key motivations at OneFlorida is to move discoveries from academic settings out into the real world and the places where patients get care,” Betsy Shenkman, Ph.D., who leads the consortium, said.

If confirmed, it could unlock numerous possibilities. It could increase survival rates in patients with advanced cancers. An even better nonspecific universal vaccine could be designed!

“If this can double what we’re achieving currently, or even incrementally — 5%, 10% — that means a lot to those patients, especially if this can be leveraged across different cancers for different patients,” Sayour, an investigator with UF’s McKnight Brain Institute, added.