Covid vaccine doubles cancer survival in immunotherapy patients

A Common vaccines May help fight cancer, a new study suggests.

For cancer patients receiving immunotherapy, the researchers found that receiving the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine within about 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy was associated with better survival.

Researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center analyzed more than 1,000 pieces of data. Cancer patients Stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma treated at MD Anderson from 2019 to 2023.

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All patients were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy drug that helps the immune system recognize tumor cells and attack them more effectively.

Some patients received the mRNA COVID vaccine within 100 days Initiating immunotherapy And some didn’t, according to a study press release.

A common vaccine may help fight cancer, new study suggests. (iStock)

The researchers found that those who received both the vaccine and immunotherapy lived “significantly” longer.

Survival was twice the average for those who received the vaccine – 37.3 months compared to 20.6 months.

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The greatest survival benefit was seen in patients with immunologically “cold” tumors—those typically resistant to immunotherapy. In those patients, the vaccine was associated with a nearly five-fold increase in Covid-19 mRNA over three years. total existence.

“Some patients were still alive when the data were collected, meaning the vaccine’s effect may have been stronger,” the release said.

The researchers found that receiving the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine within about 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy was associated with better survival. (iStock)

The researchers then replicated these results in mouse models – when the mice received a combination of immunotherapy drugs and mRNA vaccines. The COVID-19 spike proteinTheir tumors became more responsive to treatment.

“This is the type of treatment benefit that we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions.”

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The findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2025 Congress in Berlin on October 19 and published in the journal Nature.

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“The results are extraordinary – it could revolutionize the entire field Oncological care” said senior researcher Elias Saiur, MD, Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist and the Stop Children’s Cancer/Bonnie R. Freeman Professor for Pediatric Oncology Research.

Since this was an observational study, the researchers noted that a prospective and randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm the findings.

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Director of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Duane Mitchell, MD, Ph.D. said, “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 does.”

“I think the urgency and importance of doing that Confirmation function cannot be overstated.”

All patients were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy drug that helps the immune system recognize tumor cells and attack them more effectively. (iStock)

Researchers now plan to launch a larger 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.

In the future, the researchers suggested, a “universal, off-the-shelf” vaccine could be developed to boost the immune response and survival of cancer patients.

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“It’s double or even incremental to what we’re currently achieving — 5%, 10% — that means a lot to those patients, especially if it can be leveraged. Various cancers for different patients,” added Sayur.

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The study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Brain Tumor Association, and the Radiological Society of North America.