Overview

• Patients who received an mRNA COVID vaccine within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were about twice as likely to be alive at three years as those who were not vaccinated.
• In advanced non‑small cell lung cancer, median survival was 37.3 months with vaccination versus 20.6 months without, and in metastatic melanoma the vaccinated group had not reached median survival compared with 26.7 months in the unvaccinated group.
• Survival gains were most pronounced in patients with immunologically cold tumors with very low PD‑L1 expression, approaching a five‑fold improvement in three‑year overall survival.
• Preclinical work from MD Anderson and the University of Florida indicates mRNA vaccines activate antitumor immunity and increase tumor PD‑L1, creating conditions that enhance responses to checkpoint blockade; mouse models converted unresponsive cancers into responsive ones.
• Researchers say effects were not seen with non‑mRNA flu or pneumonia vaccines, and multi‑center Phase III trials, including a UF‑led OneFlorida+ effort, are being designed as investigators disclose related UF patents licensed to iOncologi.