By\u00a0The Conversation, Research led by Justin Stebbing, Anglia Ruskin University<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fascinating new study<\/a>, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation<\/em>, has revealed an unexpected potential benefit of severe COVID infection: it may help shrink cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This surprising finding, based on research conducted in mice, opens up new possibilities for cancer treatment<\/a> and sheds light on the complex interactions between the immune system and cancer cells \u2013 but it certainly doesn\u2019t mean people should actively try to catch COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data outlining the importance of the immune system in cancer is considerable<\/a> and many drugs target the immune system, unlocking its potential, an important focus of my own research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study here focused on a type of white blood cell called monocytes. These immune cells play a crucial role in the body\u2019s defense against infections<\/a> and other threats. However, in cancer patients<\/a>, monocytes can sometimes be hijacked by tumor cells and transformed into cancer-friendly cells that protect the tumor from the immune system<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the researchers discovered was that severe COVID infection causes the body to produce a special type of monocyte with unique anti-cancer properties. These \u201cinduced\u201d monocytes are specifically trained to target the virus, but they also retain the ability to fight cancer cells<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand how this works, we need to look at the genetic material of the virus that causes COVID. The researchers found that these induced monocytes have a special receptor that binds well to a specific sequence of COVID RNA. Ankit Bharat, one of the scientists involved in this work from Northwestern University in Chicago explained this relationship using a lock-and-key analogy: \u201cIf the monocyte was a lock, and the COVID RNA was a key, then COVID RNA is the perfect fit<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To test their theory, the research team conducted experiments on mice with various types of advanced (stage 4) cancers, including melanoma, lung, breast, and colon cancer. They gave the mice a drug that mimicked the immune response to a severe COVID infection, inducing the production of these special monocytes. The results were remarkable. The tumors in the mice began to shrink<\/a> across all four types of cancer studied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike regular monocytes, which can be converted by tumors into protective cells, these induced monocytes retained their cancer-fighting properties. They were able to migrate to the tumor sites \u2013 a feat that most immune cells cannot accomplish \u2013 and, once there, they activated natural killer cells. These killer cells then attacked the cancer cells, causing the tumors to shrink<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This mechanism is particularly exciting because it offers a new approach<\/a> to fighting cancer that doesn\u2019t rely on T cells, which are the focus of many current immunotherapy treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While immunotherapy has shown promise, it only works in about 20% to 40% of cases, often failing when the body can\u2019t produce enough functioning T cells. Indeed, it\u2019s thought that the reliance on T cell immunity<\/a> is a major limitation of current immunotherapy approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This new mechanism, by contrast, offers a way to selectively kill tumors that is independent of T cells, potentially providing a solution for patients who don\u2019t respond to traditional immunotherapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to note that this study was conducted in mice, and clinical trials will be necessary to determine if the same effect occurs in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe aspects of this mechanism could work in humans and against other types of cancer as well, as it disrupts a common pathway that most cancers use to spread throughout the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While COVID vaccines<\/a> are unlikely to trigger this mechanism (as they don\u2019t use the full RNA sequence as the virus), this research opens up possibilities for developing new drugs and vaccines that could stimulate the production of these cancer-fighting monocytes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The implications of this study extend beyond COVID and cancer. It shows how our immune system can be trained by one type of threat to become more effective against another. This concept, known as \u201ctrained immunity,\u201d is an exciting area of research that could lead to new approaches for treating a wide range of diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it\u2019s crucial again to emphasize that this doesn\u2019t mean people should seek out COVID infection as a way to fight cancer, and this is especially dangerous<\/a>, as I have described<\/a>. Severe COVID can be life-threatening and has many serious long-term health consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, this research provides valuable insights that could lead to the development of safer, more targeted treatments in the future. As we continue to grapple with the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, new infections, and long COVID<\/a>, studies like this remind us of the importance of basic scientific research.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRemarkable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trained immunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n