COVID-19 RNA May Be Linked to Metastatic Cancer Regression

Certain characteristics of the COVID-19 infection were associated with possible tumor shrinkage in patients with metastatic sites of melanoma, lung, breast and colon cancers, an expert told CURE®.

Findings from research recently published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation determined that patients with certain metastatic cancers may benefit from the RNA in COVID-19. Patients who benefitted most from this were those who had previously received immunotherapy and whose bodies became resistant to the immunotherapy, Dr. Ankit Bharat told CURE® during an interview.

Bharat is the chief of thoracic surgery in the Department of Surgery and Harold L. and Margaret N. Method Research Professor of Surgery at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

Previously published studies showed that cancer regression occurred in patients who had severe COVID-19 infections, Bharat said.

“It was an unexpected thing. We had felt that maybe it’s from the very intense inflammation that’s created by COVID-19,” Bharat explained. “Maybe that’s what results in the regression of tumors. But what turns out … is that the RNA of the COVID-19 virus can … potentially lead to the development of a type of monocyte in the human body, which has cancer-fighting properties.”

RNA is a type of molecule in the body that helps organize DNA and activates signaling molecules, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The Role of RNA and Monocytes With Its Cancer-Fighting Properties

These preliminary research findings will lead to further research; however, Bharat emphasized that this does not mean patients with cancer should attempt to be infected with COVID-19.

“This is a very specific effect that happens in the human body, and COVID-19 has a lot of harmful effects,” he said. “The RNA of the COVID-19 virus can cause transformation or development of these cells, but that is only [from] the RNA, not the harmful virus infecting the human body.

“The message is not to go get COVID-19. We just observed something that the RNA of COVID-19 could be harnessed in the future to help patients with cancer through the use of drugs that use this RNA.”

READ MORE: Cancer Vaccine for NSCLC and Melanoma Could Be Paradigm-Changing

He further noted that the RNA from COVID-19 is released into patients’ bloodstreams, which activates the monocytes. When this happens, the monocytes transform into cancer-fighting cells.

“What we found is that the same mechanism can be accomplished through a class of drugs that don’t have a clinical indication yet, but we are hoping that clinical trials will be able to do that,” Bharat explained.

COVID-19 Vaccines, RNA and the Link to Cancer Regression

As with the COVID-19 infection, the COVID-19 vaccines also contain RNA, although an important difference is that the RNA in vaccines is modified, Bharat said.

“The COVID-19 vaccines contain modified RNA from the COVID-19. The way the RNA causes this effect is that the RNA has to fit into a specific receptor on these monocytes that the RNA has to bind to,” he explained. “Once the RNA or the COVID-19 binds to that receptor, it will transform those monocytes.

“Now, anytime you modify that RNA, that binding does not occur. It’s like a lock and key, so that key has to fit the lock perfectly in order to activate the process. So we don’t believe that the COVID-19 vaccines will be able to achieve that effect [of cancer regression].”

Vaccines for influenza (flu) have also been researched in this space because it is also an RNA virus, Bharat noted. Similar to the COVID-19 vaccines, the flu vaccine also “does not achieve the same effect,” he said. “So in other words, it has to be a very precise configuration of the precise RNA to cause that effect [of cancer regression].”

Nevertheless, more research is needed about the COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 vaccines and its link to cancer regression, Bharat mentioned. As for the next steps, he noted that a phase 1 clinical trial will open in approximately mid-2025.

Reference

“Inducible CCR2+ nonclassical monocytes mediate the regression of cancer metastasis” by Xianpeng Liu, et al., The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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