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.
