A virus that triggered a pandemic and killed millions, may have a silver lining for cancer patients. A new study has discovered Covid-19's ability to fight cancer by shrinking cancerous tumours. This may aid in the development of new cancer treatments.
Research was conducted at the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute and will be published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in November. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was found by some doctors anecdotally that some people with cancer who got very sick with Covid-19 saw their tumors shrink or grow more slowly.
“We didn’t know if it was real, because these patients were so sick,” says Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern University. “Was it because the immune system was so triggered by Covid-19 that it also started to kill cancer cells? What was it?” The researcher along with his team decided to conduct a study to answer these questions and find out more.
The unexpected link between Covid-19 and tumor reduction offers promising potential for future cancer therapies. Ongoing research could lead to innovative treatments inspired by this virus’s unique impact on cancer cells.
Dr. Bharat and his team found that when SARS-CoV-2 is present, a type of immune cell called a monocyte behaves differently. Normally, monocytes help the immune system by moving through the bloodstream and alerting other immune cells when they detect foreign cells or threats. Some monocytes can even help attract cancer-fighting cells to tumors. However, cancer cells sometimes “trick” monocytes, using them to form a protective shield that hides the tumor from the immune system’s attack.
In the presence of SARS-CoV-2, though, this shielding effect changes, potentially allowing the immune system to detect and fight the cancer more effectively.
The making of cancer-fighting immune cell
It was learnt that the RNA within the Covid-19 virus triggers the development of a unique immune cell that can fight cancer. Those cells are then able to travel and attack cancer cells inside tumors.
The findings are promising as this will help in developing a treatment mimicking this immune cell formation. This could help treat some common cancers, including melanoma, lung, breast and colon cancer, Bharat said.
The study was done using both human tissues and animal models.
“It’s incredible, and a big surprise, that the same infection that caused so much devastation can help create a cancer-fighting cell,” Bharat said.
How Covid-19 can help in cancer drug discovery
This function can be replicated in a drug, researchers found out, which would benefit patients with aggressive or advanced cancers.
Dr Bharat said the cancer cells couldn’t develop a resistance to the immune cells, which makes things promising. It can help patients who develop a resistance to immunotherapy, one of the major cancer treatments. In such cases, cancer may return after immunotherapy because the cancer cells are able to mutate and evade the treatment.
Immunotherapy typically works by enlisting T cells to combat cancer. However, the cells activated by the Covid-19 virus can summon natural killer cells, which are even more effective at destroying cancer cells.
“The most amazing thing is the effectiveness of these cells,” Bharat said.
Any treatment that comes from these findings would not replace immunotherapy, but would be used alongside it or as a secondary option if immunotherapy fails, Bharat said.
The findings are also unique to the Covid-19 RNA virus. Other RNA infections like influenza do not have the same ability to create cancer-fighting immune cells, researchers found.
Researchers are hoping to begin a clinical trial for the treatment of cancer patients.
“We are in the early stages, but the potential to transform cancer treatment is there,” Bharat said.
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