Covid jab sparks immune response to fight cancer, study finds
Covid vaccine could be used to fight lung or skin cancer
- New research indicates that Covid mRNA vaccines may significantly extend the lives of patients with advanced lung or skin cancer when given around the start of immunotherapy.
- The analysis of 1,000 patients’ records found that those who received an mRNA jab within 100 days of starting immunotherapy saw a near doubling of median survival for lung cancer and an increase for metastatic melanoma.
- Researchers from the University of Florida and MD Anderson Cancer Center suggest the vaccine acts as a “flare”, mobilising immune cells to more effectively target cancer.
- This discovery is hailed as a “significant step” towards creating a universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine, potentially transforming oncologic treatment.
- These findings are preliminary, but a randomised clinical trial is now being designed to validate the results, with scientists stressing the importance of further confirmatory work.