Name: mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may help fight cancer
Uploaded: 2025-10-28T19:01:43.524Z
Duration: 1 min 38 s
Description: Preliminary research published in Nature suggests that COVID-19 vaccines, particularly Pfizer and Moderna, may offer unexpected benefits for cancer patients.

Preliminary research published in Nature suggests that COVID-19 vaccines, particularly Pfizer and Moderna, may offer unexpected benefits for cancer patients.

Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, may provide an additional benefit for some cancer patients. In a study involving 1,000 patients with advanced lung cancer or melanoma, those who received the vaccine within 100 days of immunotherapy treatment survived almost twice as long as those who did not. The vaccine appears to activate and reprogram the immune system, enhancing the effectiveness of immunotherapy.

The study also reported a five-fold improvement in overall survival for patients who initially did not respond well to immunotherapy. While these findings are preliminary, researchers are planning a phase three clinical trial to further investigate the potential of mRNA vaccines in cancer treatment. The research comes amid reduced funding for mRNA vaccine development in the United States.

mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may help fight cancer

the pandemic they were credited with saving millions of lives. Now researchers say they found that mRNA COVID vaccines had an additional surprise benefit for some cancer patients. What we found is that COVID mRNA vaccines act like a siren to activate the immune system throughout the body. The study involved 1,000 patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas with advanced lung cancer or melanoma who were within 100 days of receiving approved immunotherapy drugs. Lung cancer patients who received a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA COVID vaccine survived for about 37 months or almost twice as long as those who didn't receive the shot. Researchers say it appears the vaccine helped supercharge the patient's immune systems to fight against their cancerous tumors. The COVID mRNA vaccine can reprogram immune systems to kill cancer in a way that allows immune therapy to work more effectively. The study also found that those who didn't respond well to immunotherapy had a five-fold improvement in overall survival. The findings are raising hope for a day when vaccines will be used to treat a range of cancers but come at a difficult time for research into mRNA vaccines. Back in August the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the American government was canceling 500 million dollars in mRNA development, claiming contrary to the scientific findings that they failed to protect against respiratory infections like COVID and the flu. The findings related to cancer are preliminary and researchers are already planning a phase three clinical trial and hope to start enrolling patients by the end of the year.

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