mRNA vaccines transform personalized lung cancer treatment

Targeted therapy and immunotherapy represent major innovations in the treatment of lung cancer. However, in patients with driver gene-positive tumors, the emergence of acquired resistance to targeted drugs is inevitable. As for immunotherapy, its efficacy in early-stage lung cancer patients remains uncertain due to strong immune heterogeneity. In advanced and locally advanced patients, high tumor mutational burden leads to significant genomic instability and tumor progression, and resistance still inevitably develops even with standard chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. Cancer vaccines, as an approach that activates the antitumor immune cycle from its origin, offer advantages such as the ability to target multiple antigens, minimal off-target effects, a wide therapeutic window, and low toxicity. Furthermore, such vaccines can induce long-lasting immune memory and possess a certain capacity to remodel the tumor immune microenvironment, which helps prevent cancer recurrence, demonstrating broad prospects in lung cancer treatment. Currently, various types of tumor vaccines (including those based on microorganisms, peptides, proteins, exosomes, and DNA) have been developed, yet they often face limitations in safety, insufficient personalization, and immature production pipelines. In contrast, messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines offer distinct advantages, including the efficient generation of protective immune responses, relatively low side effects, and lower acquisition costs, making them a forefront option for novel lung cancer therapies. This review summarizes the current research status of lung cancer vaccines, clarifies the unique therapeutic advantages of mRNA vaccines compared to traditional vaccine modalities, and highlights existing challenges associated with mRNA vaccines. It also provides an overview of current clinical trials of mRNA vaccines for lung cancer and proposes rational design and clinical application strategies for personalized mRNA vaccines within the framework of precision oncology, based on evidence-based medicine.