COVID-Like Vaccine Could Help Cure “Every Single Cancer Patient,” Scientists Announce

No matter how young, healthy, or proactive you are, the scary truth is that anyone can be diagnosed with cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), over 2 million patients in the U.S. will likely be diagnosed with some form of the disease this year—and over 618,000 will die from it.

However, there are also an estimated 18.1 million cancer survivors living stateside, thanks in part to the fact that research and technology continue to improve our ability to detect the disease early and treat it effectively. But what if the long-sought-after goal of curing or preventing cancer altogether were somehow a reality? Scientists now say that a new COVID-like mRNA vaccine could help cure “every single cancer patient” based on new research.

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New research suggests mRNA vaccines could fight tumors.

In a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering on July 18, a team of researchers at the University of Florida (UF) shared a groundbreaking discovery made in a lab experiment conducted on mice.

By pairing an mRNA-style vaccine with traditional cancer immunotherapy drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, they were able to generate a tumor-fighting response in the rodents, suggesting that the technology could be used to boost the body’s immune system to protect against cancer.

“This paper describes a very unexpected and exciting observation: that even a vaccine not specific to any particular tumor or virus—so long as it is an mRNA vaccine—could lead to tumor-specific effects,” Elias Sayour, MD, PhD, the study’s lead other and a UF Health pediatric oncologist, said in a press release. “This finding is a proof of concept that these vaccines potentially could be commercialized as universal cancer vaccines to sensitize the immune system against a patient’s individual tumor.”

How do mRNA vaccines work?

If the term “mRNA vaccine” is giving you flashbacks to the pandemic, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The technology was put to use in the production of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and currently remains as one of the only widespread uses of the treatment, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Like other vaccines, mRNA versions work by priming the body to fight off potential invaders and pathogens that can be harmful. However, this new technology doesn’t rely on using dead or weakened versions of a virus (or parts of a virus) to generate an immune system response and provide antibodies.

These vaccines use mRNA (or the molecule that transports the blueprints for protein production in our cells) that provides the information needed for the body to produce specific proteins.

So, how does it work in practice? In the case of COVID-19, this means shots carry the mRNA required for cells to produce the virus’s unique spike protein. Cells then produce this single piece, which the body then sees as an invader and begins an immune response to remove it, creating a roadmap that helps protect against future infections by the genuine virus.

The mRNA injected into the body as part of the vaccine breaks down within days after receiving the shot (as does all mRNA in the human body as part of cell metabolism).

The development of safe and effective mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines that have saved countless lives was developed and administered quickly, but the technology they’re based on has been the subject of intense research since the 1970s, according to Cleveland Clinic.

After finally developing a way to administer mRNA without the body destroying it outright over the last few decades, the technology was first approved seven years ago for a drug used to treat a rare nerve disorder before it was used during the pandemic.

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The latest study builds on other promising research.

Last year, Sayour successfully used mRNA technology to treat glioblastoma (an aggressive form of brain tumor) in a human trial. In this case, patients received mRNA shots based on the specific tumor cells taken from their bodies that allowed the immune system to mount a more “vigorous” response, according to a press release.

For the latest study, scientists used mRNA technology to treat different forms of cancer in mice. However, instead of drawing specific cells and manufacturing vaccines specific to each tumor, the scientists saw success when experimenting with a general version administered alongside a typical form of monoclonal antibody used in cancer treatment.

For the next phase of the experiment, researchers treated mice with brain, skin, and bone cancers using only the mRNA vaccine. Even without the use of additional treatments, the team noted “beneficial effects,” with some tumors even being completely eradicated by the technology.

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What does it mean for the future of cancer treatment?

The team concluded that mRNA vaccines could be an effective tool in spurring the body into using its resources to fight off different forms of cancer.

“This study suggests a third emerging paradigm,” Duane Mitchell, MD, PhD, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a press release. “What we found is by using a vaccine designed not to target cancer specifically but rather to stimulate a strong immunologic response, we could elicit a very strong anticancer reaction. And so this has significant potential to be broadly used across cancer patients—even possibly leading us to an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine.”

Mitchell added that while there is a great chance mRNA technology could be used in conjunction with other treatments, there’s a significant chance that the vaccine itself could be an effective treatment in the future. The team said they were now working to further their research by launching a human clinical trial after finalizing new formalizations.

“This could potentially be a viable approach for every single cancer patient,” Sayour said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times.

RELATED: 14 Cancer Types Are Increasing in Americans Under 50, Shocking New Research Finds.

The takeaway:

The same technology that helped save countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic may now be able to do the same against another formidable foe: Cancer.

Researchers at the University of Florida found that mRNA vaccines prompted a robust immune response in mice with different forms of the disease. Remarkably, the team saw positive results when using a more generalized version of the vaccine than had been used in previous studies—in some cases by removing tumors entirely.

“It could potentially be a universal way of waking up a patient’s own immune response to cancer,” Mitchell said in a press release. “And that would be profound if generalizable to human studies.”