WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The most widely used may offer a surprise benefit for some cancer patients 鈥� revving up their immune systems to help fight tumors.
People with advanced lung or skin cancer who were taking certain lived substantially longer if they also got a Pfizer or Moderna shot within 100 days of starting treatment, according to preliminary research being reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.
And it had nothing to do with virus infections.
Instead, , appears to help the immune system respond better to the cutting-edge cancer treatment, concluded researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University of Florida.
The vaccine 鈥渁cts like a siren to activate immune cells throughout the body,鈥� said lead researcher Dr. Adam Grippin of MD Anderson. 鈥淲e鈥檙e sensitizing immune-resistant tumors to immune therapy.鈥�
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has raised skepticism about mRNA vaccines, for some uses of the technology.
But this research team found its results so promising that it is preparing a more rigorous study to see if mRNA coronavirus vaccines should be paired with cancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors 鈥� an interim step while it designs new mRNA vaccines for use in cancer.
A healthy immune system often kills cancer cells before they become a threat. But some tumors evolve to hide from immune attack. . It’s a powerful treatment 鈥� when it works. Some people鈥檚 immune cells still don鈥檛 recognize the tumor.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is naturally found in every cell and it contains genetic instructions for our bodies to make proteins. While best known as the , scientists have long been trying to create personalized mRNA 鈥渢reatment vaccines鈥� that train immune cells to spot unique features of a patient’s tumor.
The new research offers 鈥渁 very good clue鈥� that maybe an off-the-shelf approach could work, said Dr. Jeff Coller, an mRNA specialist at Johns Hopkins University who wasn鈥檛 involved with the work. 鈥淲hat it shows is that mRNA medicines are continuing to surprise us in how beneficial they can be to human health.鈥�
Grippin and his Florida colleagues had been developing personalized mRNA cancer vaccines when they realized that even one created without a specific target appeared to spur similar immune activity against cancer.
Grippin wondered if the already widely available mRNA coronavirus shots might also have some effect, too.
So the team analyzed records of nearly 1,000 advanced cancer patients undergoing checkpoint inhibitor treatment at MD Anderson 鈥� comparing those who happened to get a Pfizer or Moderna shot with those who didn鈥檛.
Vaccinated lung cancer patients were nearly twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning cancer treatment as the unvaccinated patients. Among melanoma patients, median survival was significantly longer for vaccinated patients 鈥� but exactly how much isn鈥檛 clear, as some of that group were still alive when the data was analyzed.
Non-mRNA vaccines such as flu shots didn鈥檛 make a difference, he said.
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