mRNA Covid vaccine linked to longer survival in cancer immunotherapy

Patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who received an mRNA Covid‑19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy lived substantially longer than similar patients who were not vaccinated, researchers reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Berlin. The finding emerged from a retrospective analysis of more than 1,000 patients treated at major U.S. cancer centers during the pandemic and was supported by laboratory experiments in mice that suggest a biological mechanism.

Investigators reviewed records for patients with advanced non‑small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma who began treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors between 2019 and 2023. In the lung cancer group, 180 patients had received an mRNA Covid vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy; their median survival was about 37 months compared with roughly 20 months for unvaccinated patients. Among melanoma patients, 43 vaccinated individuals had not yet reached median survival after more than three years of follow up, while median survival for the 167 unvaccinated patients was approximately 27 months.

The researchers said the association appeared...