Patients with cancer who received mRNA-based COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning treatment, according to a new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Fyi – neither the Nature link or the DOI link work.

Patients with cancer who received mRNA-based COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning treatment, according to a new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

These findings, which include more than 1,000 patients treated between Aug. 2019 and Aug. 2023, were presented today at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. The study was led by Steven Lin, M.D., Ph.D. professor of Radiation Oncology, and Adam Grippin, M.D., Ph.D., senior resident in Radiation Oncology.

“This study demonstrates that commercially available mRNA COVID vaccines can train patients’ immune systems to eliminate cancer,” Grippin said. “When combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors, these vaccines produce powerful antitumor immune responses that are associated with massive improvements in survival for patients with cancer.”

  • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    17 hours ago

    Here’s the relevant bit about how it works, in conjunction with inhibitors:

    “They discovered that mRNA vaccines work like an alarm, putting the body’s immune system on high alert to recognize and attack cancer cells.

    In response, the cancer cells start making the immune checkpoint protein PD-L1, which works as a defense mechanism against immune cells. Fortunately, several immune checkpoint inhibitors are designed to block PD-L1, creating a perfect environment for these treatments to unleash the immune system against cancer.”