A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Research has revealed a surprising potential benefit of the Covid virus: It may help shrink cancer tumors.
This surprising finding, based on experiments conducted on mice, has shed light on the complex interactions between the immune system, pathogens, and cancer cells. It is expected to pave the way for new, effective cancer treatments for humans.
However, before the research advances to clinical trials, scientists advise against deliberately infecting oneself with Covid, as the virus can cause severe illness. Doctors will need to design a safe treatment protocol that may utilize benign viruses or a type of mRNA vaccine based on the tumor-shrinking capabilities of the Covid virus.
The Covid virus may help shrink cancer tumors. (Illustrative image).
An Immunotherapy Approach
The new study falls within a promising emerging field for cancer treatment known as immunotherapy. In this approach, scientists harness the body’s own immune system rather than administering drugs or chemicals and using external radiation to destroy cancer cells.
They discovered that the human immune system has a group of cells known as monocytes. These immune cells play a crucial role in protecting the body against infections and other threats such as bacteria and viruses.
However, in cancer patients, monocytes can sometimes be commandeered by tumor cells and transformed into cells that are “allied” with cancer. As a result, they begin to protect the tumor instead of attacking it to combat the disease.
What the researchers found is that Covid infection causes the body to produce a special type of monocyte with unique anti-cancer properties. These “specialist” monocytes are specifically trained to target the virus, but they also have the ability to combat cancer cells.
To understand how this works, we need to examine the genetic material of the virus that causes Covid. Researchers discovered that the produced monocytes have a special receptor that binds well to a specific sequence on the RNA of the Covid virus.
“If monocytes are the lock and Covid RNA is the key, then Covid RNA is the perfect combination,” explained Ankit Bharat, one of the study’s co-authors from Northwestern University in Chicago. This could also be the key to unlocking a cancer treatment method.
Covid infection causes the body to produce a special type of monocyte. (Illustrative image).
Effective in Shrinking Four Types of Late-Stage Cancer Tumors
To test their hypothesis, the research team conducted experiments on mice with four common cancers that had progressed to stage 4, the final stage, including melanoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer.
The mice were given a drug that mimics the immune response to severe Covid infection, stimulating the production of specialist monocytes. The results were astonishing. Tumors in the mice began to shrink across all four types of cancer studied.
Unlike ordinary monocytes, which can be converted by tumors into cells that protect them, the specialist monocytes retained their original anti-cancer properties as they were produced.
Specialist monocytes can move to tumor sites—a feat that most immune cells cannot accomplish—and once there, they activate the natural killing response in the same way the immune system does with any pathogen.
Other cells in the immune system then attack the cancer cells, leading to tumor shrinkage.
Tumors in mice began to shrink across all four types of cancer studied. (Illustrative image).
This mechanism is particularly exciting because it opens up a new method for fighting cancer that does not rely on T cells, which are the focus of many current immunotherapy approaches.
While immunotherapy has shown promise, it is only effective in about 20% to 40% of cases and often fails when the body cannot produce enough active T cells.
Indeed, reliance on T cell immunity is considered a significant limitation of current immunotherapeutic methods.
In contrast, the new mechanism using monocytes provides a selective tumor-killing approach that does not depend on T cells, potentially offering a solution for patients who do not respond to traditional immunotherapy.
It is important to note that this research was conducted on mice and clinical trials are needed to determine whether a similar effect is effective in human patients.
Perhaps some aspects of this mechanism could have effects in humans and help combat other types of cancer, as it disrupts the common pathways that most cancer cells use to metastasize throughout the body.
Although Covid vaccines are unlikely to trigger this mechanism (as they do not use the entire RNA sequence like the virus), this research opens up the possibility for the development of new drugs and vaccines that can stimulate the production of anti-cancer monocytes.
Monocytes help shrink lung cancer tumors.
Not Just for Cancer Treatment, New Immunotherapy Holds Potential for Many Other Diseases
The implications of this research extend beyond Covid and cancer. It demonstrates that our immune system can be trained by one type of threat to become more effective against another type of threat.
This concept, known as “trained immunity,” is an intriguing area of research that could lead to new approaches for treating various diseases.
However, it is crucial to emphasize once again that this does not mean people should deliberately infect themselves with Covid as a way to combat cancer, as this is particularly dangerous. Severe Covid can be life-threatening and cause many serious long-term health consequences.
We should only recognize that this research is providing important insights that could help develop safer, more targeted cancer treatments in the future. As we continue to grapple with the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, new infections, and long Covid, studies like this remind us of the importance of basic scientific research.
Even in the face of a global health crisis, researchers are finding ways to enhance our understanding of human biology and disease. This work not only aids us in combating the immediate threat of Covid but also paves the way for breakthroughs in treating other serious conditions like cancer.
While much work remains before these findings can be translated into treatments for patients, this research represents an exciting step forward in our understanding of the complex relationship between viruses, the immune system, and cancer.
It brings hope for new treatment methods and highlights how unexpected discoveries can lead to a poison-to-cure approach. As the ancients used to say, in danger lies opportunity, and during the Covid pandemic, scientists are finding new opportunities.
