What is it about mRNA vaccines that helps us fight cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports
Update: 2025-11-10
Description
People with lung cancer and melanoma who were receiving immunotherapies and got a Covid vaccine saw dramatically improved survival compared with folks who did not get the vaccine, a recent study shows. mRNA expert Jeff Coller at Johns Hopkins muses on why.
Coller: Why do we see it with mRNAs? Is it because the seasonal flu vaccine for example is not yet an mRNA and maybe there's something special about the mRNA platform that really does excite the immune system to recognize these tumors? And we need to understand that. This study doesn't provide that answer. mRNA is a natural product, the body knows how to read it and make the protein that's associated with it. That might be it, that it's just highly immunogenic. There's a big responsibility of scientists and our public health officials and our politicians to educate the public about technologies that are showing such amazing promise such as the mRNA platform. :34
The clear take home is mRNA works, Coller says. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
Coller: Why do we see it with mRNAs? Is it because the seasonal flu vaccine for example is not yet an mRNA and maybe there's something special about the mRNA platform that really does excite the immune system to recognize these tumors? And we need to understand that. This study doesn't provide that answer. mRNA is a natural product, the body knows how to read it and make the protein that's associated with it. That might be it, that it's just highly immunogenic. There's a big responsibility of scientists and our public health officials and our politicians to educate the public about technologies that are showing such amazing promise such as the mRNA platform. :34
The clear take home is mRNA works, Coller says. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
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