The next cancer-fighting mRNA vaccine may already be here

Covid vaccines may come with a tantalizing benefit that has nothing to do with the virus they’re designed to protect against: boosting the immune system to better fight tumors during cancer treatment

Covid vaccines may come with a tantalizing benefit that has nothing to do with the virus they’re designed to protect against: boosting the immune system to better fight tumors during cancer treatment.

That’s according to new results presented Sunday in Berlin at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference. The research is still in the earlier stages — it has yet to be tested in a Phase 3 clinical trial — but experts say it shows promise.

“I am cautiously optimistic,” said Stephanie Dougan, an associate professor of cancer immunology and virology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who was not involved with the work. “There is a scientific logic to why this could work.”

Researchers found that among cancer patients getting immunotherapy, those who got an mRNA Covid vaccine within 100 days before starting their treatment lived longer.

Only about 20% of cancer patients who get immunotherapy — which harnesses a person’s immune system to fight cancer cells — respond to the treatment. Finding a way to boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs has been a feat researchers have been exploring for years, with little success.