The breakthrough mRNA vaccine that enabled the world to fight Covid-19 may also be used to fight cancers of the lung or skin, according to a study.Researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Texas called it a defining moment in a decade-plus of research testing mRNA-based therapeutics designed to “wake up” the immune system against cancer.
In their study, presented at the ongoing 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin, the team shared that the patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who received a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs lived significantly longer than those who did not get the vaccine.
The findings from an analysis of more than 1,000 patients’ records are preliminary, but if validated in a randomised clinical trial now in design, the study could have a widespread clinical impact. “The implications are extraordinary- this could revolutionise the entire field of oncologic care,” said senior researcher Elias Sayour, paediatric oncologist at the University of Florida.