The immune system reacts when infected with the corona virus, not with cancer.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – A new type of corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) which causes infectious diseases Covid-19 may bring good news to the fight against cancer. Some scientists say there is new potential to fight back cancer with a virus that is becoming a world pandemic.
The research was carried out by Shashi Gujar, a scientist from Dalhousie University, with the Department of Pathology at Dal, with colleagues in the United States (US), Denmark, France, Germany, and India. They studied whether the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 could be reused to fight cancer.
The immune system detects foreign viruses and bacteria as threats, but doesn’t do this in cancer. Gujar investigates whether corona virus the new type could serve as the next generation of cancer immunotherapy. He also said that the research team found a way to trick the specific T cells of the new coronavirus into thinking that your cancer is infected with the virus.
“The key is to do this without using a virus or actually causing an actual infection,” Gujar said in a news release on the Dalhousie University website. Fox News, Thursday (17/9).
Gujar explained that when someone contracted SARS-CoV-2, the immune system recognized the virus and activated T cells and acted in a certain way to kill only the cells that harbor the virus. The Covid-19 vaccines currently being tested around the world have demonstrated the same ability to trigger the specific T cells of the new coronavirus.
Experts previously said that T cells have memory cells that are stored in the body after a person has fought an infection. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the immune system remembers what it has learned about how to protect the body from the disease.
Memory cells act as alarms and help the immune system identify and produce antibodies to attack foreign or other viruses. Including germs if they enter the body again.
The authors said in a study release that the coronavirus-specific T cells can search for SARs-CoV-2 in the body and destroy areas where the virus is replicating and help the body recover from Covid-19. The team of scientists tried to get T cells to attack tumors by making cancer cells express the same identifying markers as the new coronavirus storage cells and thus target T-cells that fight the coronavirus, the release said.
“Once we know it’s working, this immunotherapy will actually be a straightforward process and maybe we’ll be able to use it on patients sooner rather than later. This is a very new and practical strategy for harnessing virus-specific T cells against many types of cancer. That’s what makes it so interesting, ”explained Fujar.
Coronavirus-specific cells have the potential to be found in millions of people around the world due to infection or vaccines, making this type of cancer immunotherapy useful for populations around the world. In the release, it was mentioned that an international group of scientists with Gujar was currently testing tag specifically the corona virus that occurs in different populations. They then plan to create a “compilation of these signs” to treat cancer in health facilities around the world.
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