Covid Vaccines Could Trigger Next Cancer Revolution

We analyzed clinical results from over 1,000 advanced melanoma and lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a common immunotherapy approach to train the immune system to kill cancer. Patients receiving Pfizer or Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy were twice as likely to be alive after three years compared to non-vaccinated. Surprisingly, even patients with tumors typically unresponsive to immunotherapy saw almost a five-fold increase in overall survival at three years. This link between improved survival and mRNA Covid-19 vaccine receipt remained strong even after controlling for factors like disease severity and co-occurring conditions. To understand the underlying mechanism, we turned to animal models and found that Covid-19 mRNA vaccines act as an alarm, triggering the body’s immune system to recognize and kill tumor cells, surpassing cancer’s ability to disable immune cells. When combined, vaccines and immune checkpoint inhibitors coordinate to unleash the full power of the immune system to kill cancer cells. Pediatric oncologist Elias Sayour, from the University of Florida, stated that non-patient-specific mRNA vaccines can ‘awaken the sleeping giant that is the immune system to combat cancer.’