Overview
- An analysis of more than 1,000 MD Anderson patients with advanced non‑small cell lung cancer or metastatic melanoma found substantially longer survival when a Pfizer or Moderna shot was given within 100 days of starting checkpoint inhibitors.
- For lung cancer, median overall survival was 37.3 months with vaccination versus 20.6 months without, while in melanoma the vaccinated group’s median had not been reached at analysis.
- The association was strongest in tumors typically resistant to immunotherapy, with authors reporting nearly a five‑fold improvement in three‑year survival for that subgroup.
- Mouse experiments and immune profiling support a mechanism in which mRNA vaccination rapidly activates interferon pathways and increases tumor PD‑L1, making cancers more responsive to checkpoint blockade.
- Experts caution the findings are retrospective and susceptible to confounding, non‑mRNA vaccines showed no similar signal, and a randomized Phase III program is being designed to validate causality, including through the OneFlorida+ network.