‘Amazing progress’ in lung cancer: Immunotherapy extends survival as mRNA vaccines offer hope

François Picard is pleased to welcome Siow-Ming Lee, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University College London and a specialist in lung cancer. “Lung cancer is not one cancer. There are many different types of lung cancer,” explains Lee. For decades, lung cancer has been closely associated with smoking, late diagnosis and poor survival prospects. Yet there is a broader revolution in cancer brewing: Medicine advances in molecular oncology, minimally invasive surgery and immunotherapy are fundamentally transforming both the understanding and treatment of the disease, including among patients who have never smoked.

Expressing cautious optimism about the reported success of Pope Leo's operation to remove cancer found in his lung, Lee emphasised the importance of early detection while acknowledging that the final pathology results would be essential to determining the long-term prognosis and any further treatment.

UCL's oncologist challenges conventional assumptions about lung cancer, pointing to its growing recognition among non-smokers, the emergence of precision treatments tailored to the molecular characteristics of individual tumours, and the potential of experimental mRNA vaccines. “We are seeing people who are living long term despite stage four cancer,” Lee observed, highlighting advances that are reshaping expectations even for patients with advanced disease.

As researchers investigate the genetic and environmental factors behind lung cancer and explore vaccines that could potentially prevent recurrence, Lee's central message is one of scientifically grounded optimism: earlier detection and increasingly personalised treatment are opening possibilities that were scarcely imaginable just a generation ago.