Cancer Patients Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine Show Dramatically Improved Survival Rates During Immunotherapy
HOUSTON, TX – A new study published in Nature reveals a striking correlation between COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and substantially improved survival rates in cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. Patients with both non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma who received the vaccine within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment experienced a substantial boost in overall survival,prompting researchers too suggest the vaccine acts as a powerful “alarm” to stimulate the body’s immune system and enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatment.
The research, conducted between January 2015 and September 2022, involved 180 non-small cell lung cancer patients and 43 metastatic melanoma patients in the vaccinated group, compared to 704 and 167 respectively in the non-vaccinated group. Findings showed the 3-year overall survival rate for vaccinated non-small cell lung cancer patients reached 55.7%, more than doubling the 30.8% rate observed in those unvaccinated. Median overall survival also extended significantly, from 20.6 months in the non-vaccinated group to 37.3 months in the vaccinated group. Similarly, metastatic melanoma patients in the vaccinated group demonstrated a 36-month overall survival rate of 67.6%, compared to 44.1% in the non-vaccinated group.
Researchers theorize the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine’s ability to broadly activate the immune system can even awaken “cold tumors” – those previously unresponsive to immunotherapy. “like the COVID-19 vaccine, an mRNA vaccine that targets antigens that are not directly related to cancer can act as a ‘regulator’ that strongly activates the entire immune system of our body,” explained Steven H. Lin, professor of radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the study’s corresponding author. ”As an inevitable result, it appears to ‘sensitize’ existing immunotherapy drugs to better recognize and attack tumors.”
The study, titled “SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumors to immune checkpoint blockade,” offers a potential new avenue for optimizing cancer treatment strategies and highlights the unexpected benefits of widespread vaccination beyond protection from the virus itself.
