(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Researchers at Northwestern Medicine have found a potential way to fight cancer using the COVID-19 virus.
Director of Northwestern’s Canning Thoracic Institute Dr. Ankit Bharat said he and other researchers found when our immune systems attack the COVID virus, the RNA molecule inside triggers our white blood cells.
Those cells, called monocytes, are often used by cancer cells to help it escape the body’s immune system but in their research, were turned against the cancer.
“The COVID RNA can transform these circulating monocytes into anti-cancer cells,” Dr. Bharat said.
The results of the study on animals are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Bharat says it worked in fighting melanoma, lung, breast and colon cancer.
To help us understand how it works, he compares the monocyte receptor to a lock.
“When the RNA of the COVID is floating around, it is like a key. It can fit inside that lock, open the door and then the RNA can enter.”
The work was inspired during the pandemic by observations of patients who had stage four cancer and saw their cancer shrink when they contracted severe cases of COVID.
The next step is to see how it works on humans in clinical trials, something Dr. Bharat expects to start in the middle of next year.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok