Researchers from Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute found that the COVID-19 virus triggers the development of a unique immune cell with anti-cancer properties, it said in a Nov. 15 system news release.
The study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, examined COVID-19 in human tissues and animal models. It found that RNA from SARS-CoV-2 could be pharmacologically stimulated using small molecules to create these new cells, called inducible nonclassical monocytes.
I-NCMs were found to attack cancer cells and could contribute to cancer regression in some patients following a COVID-19 infection.
"This discovery opens up a new avenue for cancer treatment," Ankit Bharat, MD, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute, said in the release. "We found that the same cells activated by severe COVID-19 could be induced with a drug to fight cancer, and we specifically saw a response with melanoma, lung, breast and colon cancer in the study. While this is still in the early stages and the effectiveness was only studied in preclinical animal models, it offers hope that we might be able to use this approach to benefit patients with advanced cancers that have not responded to other treatments."