New research from Northwestern Medicine indicates that a severe COVID-19 infection may, in some instances, lead to the regression of cancer cells. The study, led by Ankit Bharat, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Northwestern Medicine, explores how the immune response triggered by severe COVID-19 could be harnessed for novel cancer therapies.
Unexpected Observations During the Pandemic
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians observed a peculiar phenomenon: some cancer patients who contracted severe COVID-19 experienced a reduction in the size of their tumors. "When those patients got severe COVID, the cancers shrank," said Dr. Bharat. This unexpected observation prompted researchers to investigate whether this was a mere coincidence or a genuine effect.
Pre-clinical Evidence
Further research involving human tissue and animal models has provided evidence supporting the link between severe COVID-19 and cancer regression. The pre-clinical studies suggest that the phenomenon is "broadly effective in some of the most common cancers that effect us, so lung, breast, colon, melanomas," according to Dr. Bharat. Researchers successfully replicated the conditions found in severe COVID-19 patients to create cells that could target and attack cancer cells.
Implications for Immunotherapy
This COVID-based research presents a different approach compared to traditional immunotherapy. For patients like Keith Zafren, a lung cancer patient who received a double lung transplant at Northwestern Medicine, traditional immunotherapy poses risks of organ rejection. The new research indicates that "this mechanism of these monocytes can selectively kill the cancer cells without affecting the newly-transplanted lungs," offering a potential alternative for such patients.
Future Clinical Trials
The research team plans to initiate clinical trials with human subjects next year. These trials will further explore the potential of leveraging the COVID-19-induced immune response as a cancer treatment. The hope is to develop new therapies that can selectively target and eliminate cancer cells, even in patients for whom traditional immunotherapy is not an option.
