COVID mRNA vaccines may be able to train immune system to attack cancer cells, boost survival

At the time of data collection, some patients were still alive, indicating that the vaccine effects could be even stronger.

Survival benefits were maintained after propensity score matching and in patients with tumors that don’t typically elicit a strong immune response. In preclinical models, the vaccines appeared to sensitize tumors to ICIs. 

“The really exciting part of our work is that it points to the possibility that widely available, low-cost vaccines have the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of certain immune therapies,” presenting author Adam Grippin, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a center news release. 

“We are hopeful that mRNA vaccines could not only improve outcomes for patients being treated with immunotherapies but also bring the benefits of these therapies to patients with treatment-resistant disease,” he added.

‘The implications are extraordinary’

The results are preliminary, the authors cautioned, but if confirmed by a phase 3 randomized clinical trial now in the design stage, they could have broad clinical impact.

In a University of Florida news release, senior researcher Elias Sayour, MD, PhD, a university pediatric oncologist, said, “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.”

“If this can double what we’re achieving [in survival] 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,” he said.

Three study authors disclosed that they hold patents related to mRNA vaccines developed at the University of Florida and licensed by iOncologi, Inc.