Cancer patients who got the coronavirus vaccine lived much longer

Scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center call this a milestone in more than a decade of work developing mRNA-based therapies that activate the body’s immune defenses against cancer. Building on a previous study conducted by the University of Florida, the results represent an important step toward creating a universal cancer vaccine capable of enhancing the effects of immunotherapy.

The analysis, which examined the medical records of more than 1,000 MD Anderson patients, is still preliminary. However, if upcoming randomized clinical trials confirm these findings, the impact on cancer care could be profound.

“The implications of this are extraordinary — this could revolutionize the entire field of oncology care,” said lead researcher Elias Sayur, MD, PhD, a pediatric oncologist at University of Florida Health and the Bonnie R. Freeman Professor of Pediatric Cancer and Pediatric Oncology Research. “We can design a better non-specific vaccine to mobilize and reset the immune response, in a way that it could essentially be a universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine for all cancer patients.”

The findings highlight another way in which Operation Warp Speed ​​(the US government’s rapid COVID-19 vaccine initiative) continues to benefit lives “in unique and unexpected ways,” noted Jeff Koller, Ph.D., a leading mRNA expert at Johns Hopkins University.

“The results of this study show how powerful mRNA drugs are and that they are revolutionizing our treatment of cancer,” Kohler said.

The study was presented today (October 19) at the 2025 European Society of Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin, and builds on eight years of Sayor’s research combining liposome nanoparticles and mRNA. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is found in every cell and carries the instructions for making proteins.

In July, Sayor’s lab made an unexpected discovery: To trigger a powerful immune attack on cancer, it was not necessary to target a specific tumor protein. Instead, they can simply stimulate the immune system to respond as if it were fighting a viral infection.

By pairing the experimental “non-specific” mRNA vaccine with immune checkpoint inhibitors — common cancer drugs that help the immune system recognize and destroy tumors — the researchers observed a strong anti-tumor response in mice. This experimental vaccine was not intended for COVID-19 or any other virus or cancer but used technology similar to the COVID-19 vaccines.

This breakthrough inspired former University of Florida researcher and current Anderson MD scientist Adam Gribbin, MD, to ask a key question: Could a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine have a similar effect in boosting immunity in cancer patients?

To explore this idea, the team analyzed data from patients with stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma who were treated at MD Anderson between 2019 and 2023.

Their findings showed that patients who received an mRNA coronavirus vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy survived significantly longer than those who did not.

According to Sayur, the most surprising improvements occurred in patients who, based on tumor biology and other factors, were not expected to respond strongly to immunotherapy.

Although these findings are from an observational study and require confirmation through a randomized clinical trial, researchers emphasize their potential importance.

Although further validation is needed, Sayor described this discovery as pivotal for the future of cancer treatment.

“Although it has not yet been proven to be causal, this is the type of treatment benefit we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions — but rarely do,” said Duane Mitchell, MD, PhD, Gribbin’s PhD mentor and director of the UF Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. “I think the importance and urgency of doing this affirmative work cannot be overstated.”

In cases of lung and skin cancer, doctors typically engage the immune system with medications designed to “release the brakes” and recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. However, in advanced stages of the disease, most patients do not respond well and often exhaust other treatment options such as radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy.

The new study included records of 180 patients with advanced lung cancer who received the coronavirus vaccine during a 100-day period before or after starting immunotherapy drugs and 704 who were treated with the same drugs and did not receive the vaccine. Getting the vaccine was associated with a doubling of median survival, from 20.6 months to 37.3 months.

Among metastatic melanoma patients, 43 patients received a vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy, while 167 patients did not receive a vaccine. With the vaccine, median survival rose from 26.7 months to a range of 30 to 40 months; At the time of data collection, some patients were still alive, meaning the vaccine’s effect may be stronger.

Receiving pneumonia vaccines or non-msg flu vaccines did not lead to any changes in longevity.

To support their findings, the University of Florida researchers then used mouse models to pair immunotherapy drugs with an mRNA vaccine that specifically targets the Covid spike protein. These experiments showed that they could convert non-responsive cancers into responsive cancers, thwarting tumor growth.

“One mechanism for how this works is when you give the mRNA vaccine, which acts as a flare that starts moving all these immune cells from the bad areas like the tumor to the good areas like the lymph nodes,” Sayor said.

The next step is to launch a large clinical trial through the UF-led OneFlorida + Clinical Research Network, a consortium of hospitals, health centers and clinics in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, California and Minnesota.

“One of our main motivations at OneFlorida is to move discoveries from academia into the real world and the places where patients get care,” said Betsy Shenkman, Ph.D., who leads the consortium.

If confirmed, the new findings open up several possibilities, and the researchers said a better, universal, non-specific vaccine could be designed. For patients with advanced cancers, increased survival from such a universal vaccine could provide an invaluable benefit: more time.

“If this can double what we’re currently achieving, or even incrementally — 5%, 10% — it means a lot to these patients, especially if this can be leveraged across different cancers for different patients,” said Sayor, a researcher at UF’s McKnight Brain Institute.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and multiple foundations.

Sayor, Gribbin and Mitchell own patents related to mRNA vaccines developed by UF that have been licensed by iOncologi Inc., a biotech company born as a “spin-off” of UF and in which Mitchell is interested.