Cancer occurs when normal cells in your body develop DNA damage that causes them to grow and multiply without control. Unlike healthy cells that have a built-in program to die when they become old or damaged, cancer cells have lost this ability and continue to divide endlessly. Cancer kills by spreading throughout your body, invading healthy organs, and eventually preventing those organs from functioning properly.
How the New mRNA Technology Works Against Cancer
The same mRNA technology that helped create the COVID-19 vaccines is now being used to fight cancer in a completely revolutionary way. Just as the COVID vaccines taught your immune system to recognize and attack the coronavirus, mRNA cancer vaccines teach your immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. Recent research from the University of Florida published in Nature Biomedical Engineering showed that mRNA vaccines can “wake up” your immune system to fight cancer, even when the vaccine isn’t specifically designed to target any particular tumor (Nature Biomedical Engineering, January 2025).
Teaching Cancer Cells to Remember How to Die
The breakthrough discovery shows that mRNA vaccines work by restoring cancer cells’ ability to undergo programmed cell death, a process called apoptosis. Normal cells have built-in instructions in their DNA that tell them when to die, but cancer cells have lost this programming. The mRNA vaccines deliver genetic instructions that essentially remind cancer cells how to die naturally. When researchers tested this approach in mouse models of skin, bone, and brain cancers, some tumors were eliminated entirely (Nature Biomedical Engineering, January 2025).
Promising Results in Pancreatic Cancer
A groundbreaking study published in Nature in 2025 showed remarkable success with personalized mRNA vaccines for pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center followed 16 patients for up to four years after treatment. Eight patients who responded to the vaccine developed cancer-fighting immune cells that researchers estimate could survive and function for nearly eight years, with about 20% potentially lasting for decades (Nature, February 19, 2025). Only two patients who responded to the vaccine had their cancer return, compared to seven of the eight who didn’t respond.
Universal Cancer Vaccine Potential
The most exciting discovery is that mRNA vaccines don’t need to target specific cancer proteins to be effective. Instead, they work by simply triggering a powerful immune response that makes your body treat cancer cells like dangerous invaders. This means scientists could potentially develop a universal cancer vaccine that works against many different types of cancer, rather than needing to create a separate vaccine for each type (Journal of Translational Medicine, January 6, 2025). More than 120 clinical trials are currently testing mRNA cancer vaccines across various cancer types, including lung, breast, prostate, and melanoma (Medical Journal, January 10, 2025).
My Recommendations
If you have cancer or a family history of cancer, ask your oncologist about clinical trials testing mRNA cancer vaccines. These treatments are still experimental, but early results show tremendous promise. The vaccines appear to be well-tolerated with side effects similar to COVID vaccines, including fatigue, injection site pain, and fever. Since these vaccines work by strengthening your immune system, maintain excellent overall health through regular exercise, adequate sleep, and a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods like fruits and vegetables. While we await larger clinical trials, current evidence suggests mRNA cancer vaccines could revolutionize cancer treatment by turning your own immune system into a powerful cancer-fighting force that remembers how to eliminate cancer cells for years or even decades.