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New research suggests Covid vaccines may do more than target the coronavirus, potentially helping cancer patients live longer. Studies in mice and an analysis of medical records of cancer patients – who received mRNA shots for COVID-19 before starting immunotherapy for cancer treatment – revealed a startling pattern: the vaccinated patients lived significantly longer than those who had not received the shots. A team of researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre presented the results at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin and published them in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. The results, they say, reveal that the mRNA vaccines do not just prevent infection – they also “wake up” and prompt the body’s immune system to fight tumours. Unlike traditional vaccines, which use weakened or inactive parts of a virus to trigger the immune system to build a defence, mRNA vaccines deliver a small strand of genetic code known as “messenger RNA” directly into the body’s cells. The cell reads this blueprint as an instruction to manufacture a spike protein which mimics that of the virus and displays it on its surface, effectively waving a red flag that alerts the immune system to build a defence. The body then creates antibodies, and memory cells are trained to recognise and attack that protein spike if it ever appears again. Cancer researchers said they started noticing a positive pattern among patients undergoing immunotherapy for their cancer treatment who had also received a Covid mRNA vaccine, versus those who had not. Only about 20% of cancer patients who receive immunotherapy—which harnesses a person’s immune system to fight cancer cells— respond to the treatment. Finding a way to boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs has been a feat that researchers have been exploring for years, with little success. Dr Adam Grippin, a senior resident in radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, said the COVID mRNA vaccine acts like a siren to activate the immune system. He said, “What we found is that in patients with cancer, the immune system gets activated inside their tumour, and it gets reprogrammed to start killing their cancer. “In looking back at over 1000 patients with cancer who are treated with immunotherapy at MD Anderson, we found that those patients who happened to get the Covid vaccine around the time they started their immunotherapy lived significantly longer than patients who didn’t get that vaccine.” The research suggested that an already-available vaccine could be the secret to boosting a cancer patient’s own immune-fighting power. Dr Patrick Nana-Sinkam, Associate Vice President of Clinical and Translational Research at VCU Health, explained, “One of the challenges with immunotherapy is that only about 20-40% of people who receive immunotherapy have a meaningful response.” Doctors warned that the research is preliminary and clinical trials are still needed to confirm the link. Researchers are looking to get 500 people signed up for the Phase 3 clinical trial. Once that’s underway, Grippin says it will still be a few more years before they have the final results. ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
