Patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who participated in a study and received an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 within 100 days of starting immunotherapy lived significantly longer compared to patients who were not vaccinated.

The study, published in the journal Nature, analyzed the medical records of more than 1,000 patients who suffered from stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer or metastatic melanoma and were treated from 2019 to 2023 at MD Anderson Cancer Hospital.

It found that receiving a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs was associated with significantly longer life expectancy. The biggest difference was in patients who were not expected to have a strong immune response based on the molecular makeup of their tumors and other factors.

Specifically, 180 patients with advanced lung cancer received the vaccine within 100 days, before or after starting immunotherapy drugs, and 704 patients were treated with the same drugs and did not get the vaccine. Getting the vaccine was associated with a nearly doubling of median survival, from 20.6 months to 37.3 months.

Of the patients with metastatic melanoma, 43 received the vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy while 167 did not receive the vaccine. With the vaccine, median survival increased from 26.7 months to a range of 30 to 40 months.

In contrast, receipt of non-mRNA vaccines, against pneumonia or influenza, was not associated with changes in lifespan.

The researchers then used mouse models to combine the immunotherapy drugs with an mRNA vaccine that specifically targets Covid-19. Experiments showed that they could turn non-responsive cancers into responsive cancers by preventing tumor growth.

It is clarified that the results are preliminary. However, if confirmed in a randomized clinical trial now under design, the study could have far-reaching clinical impact.

The study by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a defining moment in more than a decade of research into mRNA-based therapies designed to “wake up” the immune system against cancer. Building on a previous study by the University of Florida, this new observation marks an important step toward a long-awaited universal cancer vaccine to boost the effects of immunotherapy in fighting tumors.

The next step is to start a large clinical trial through the OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network, which includes hospitals, medical centers and clinics in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, California and Minnesota.