\u00a0By\u00a0Melissa Rudy\u00a0Fox News <\/p>\n\n\n\n
COVID-19 can cause a long list of health issues, including flu symptoms<\/a>, respiratory problems and even organ damage, according to medical experts \u2014 but a new study suggests that the virus could have a surprising impact on cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on Friday, found that COVID infection was linked to cancer regression, which could serve as a foundation for new cancer treatments in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SARS-CoV-2 virus<\/a> \u2014 which causes COVID \u2014 is made up of RNA (ribonucleic acid), a molecule that is found in all living cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the study, RNA was found to “trigger the development of a unique type of immune cell with anti-cancer properties<\/a>,” according to a press release from the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newly created immune cells were able to move into the blood vessels and tumors \u2014 something typical immune cells cannot do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “These killer cells then swarm the tumor and start attacking the cancer cells directly, helping to shrink the tumor,” noted senior author Ankit Bharat, MD, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This effect was activated by severe COVID-19, the researchers found, and was specifically seen to be effective against melanoma, lung cancer, breast cancer<\/a> and colon cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This discovery opens up a new avenue for cancer treatment,” Bharat said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It offers hope that we might be able to use this approach to benefit patients with advanced cancers who have not responded to other treatments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n This finding has so far only been seen in animal models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are in the early stages, but the potential to transform cancer treatment is there,” Bharat said in the release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Our next steps will involve clinical trials to see if we can safely and effectively use these findings to help cancer patients,” the study author said. (iStock)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Our next steps will involve clinical trials<\/a> to see if we can safely and effectively use these findings to help cancer patients.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The presumed mechanism is that a major inflammation event like an infection can tip the scales toward activating the immune system against a cancer.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and senior medical analyst for Fox News, pointed out that while this is “not a cancer cure and was only seen in mice,” the study does have some significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It reminds us that viruses cause inflammation<\/a> and rev up the immune system, which can either increase your risk of certain cancers or, paradoxically, cause certain cancers to shrink by activating immune cells against them,” Siegel, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Jacob Glanville, CEO of Centivax, a San Francisco biotechnology company, also was not involved in the study but said he wasn\u2019t surprised by the findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There’s a known history of this phenomenon of \u2018spontaneous regression\u2019 following an infection with a high fever in multiple illnesses, dating back as far as doctors have been identifying cancer,” he told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the study, RNA was found to “trigger the development of a unique type of immune cell with anti-cancer properties,” according to a press release. (Northwestern Medicine)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Normally, the immune system can tell there’s something wrong with cancerous tissue<\/a>, but cancers develop various mutations to hold the immune system back from attacking them,” Glanville went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The presumed mechanism is that a major inflammation event like an infection can tip the scales toward activating the immune system against cancer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nEarly findings warrant more research<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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