News release by Michelle Jaffee; video by Kyle Walker; photos by Jackie Hart
Patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs lived significantly longer than those who did not get the vaccine, researchers have found.
The observation by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a defining moment in a decade-plus of research testing mRNA-based therapeutics designed to “wake up” the immune system against cancer. Building on a previous UF study, the observation also marks a significant step toward a long-awaited universal cancer vaccine to boost the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy.
The findings from an analysis of more than 1,000 patients’ records at MD Anderson are preliminary, but if validated in a randomized clinical trial now in design, the study could have a widespread clinical impact.
“The implications are extraordinary — this could revolutionize the entire field of oncologic care,” said co-senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., an MBI researcher and UF Health pediatric oncologist. “We could design an even better nonspecific vaccine to mobilize and reset the immune response, in a way that could essentially be a universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine for all cancer patients.”
Researchers like Dr. Sayour depend on philanthropic support to fuel their discoveries. Please consider making a gift to the Libby Addison Fund for Excellence in Brain Tumor Research at the MBI. To discuss how your philanthropy can advance brain tumor research, contact MBI Senior Director of Development Caitie Deranek Stewart (stewartc1@ufl.edu).
