Activation of the immune system: mRNA coronavirus vaccination with additional effect on cancer

A study conducted by researchers led by Dr. Adam J. Grippin from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, whose results were published in a high-profile article in the journal "Nature," focuses on a surprising observation: Based on retrospective analyses of patient data, the researchers suspected that mRNA vaccines against coronavirus, in addition to their intended protection against severe COVID-19 cases, also appear to have tumor immunomodulatory effects. These effects could have a positive impact in tumor therapy.

When immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were part of pharmacological tumor therapy, vaccination with a Covid mRNA vaccine appeared to prolong survival. Should it be possible that an mRNA vaccine against If SARS-CoV-2 nonspecifically alters the tumor microenvironment in such a way that ICIs are more effective, then vaccination could sensitize tumors to immunotherapy.

This hypothesis was based on the analysis of medical records of more than 1,000 patients with lung cancer or melanoma. It was found that survival in people with lung cancer increased on average from 21 months (unvaccinated) to 37 months (vaccinated).

A similar pattern was observed in patients with metastatic melanoma. Among these patients, the unvaccinated patients survived for an average of 27 months, whereas the vaccinated patients had survived so long by the time the researchers completed data collection that it was not yet possible to calculate an average survival time.

The greatest increase in survival rate could be expected in patients with tumor characteristics that actually indicated that they were unlikely to respond to checkpoint inhibitors.