The COVID-19 virus may have the surprising ability to shrink some tumors, paving the way for new cancer treatments, a new study has found. The research, conducted at the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute and set to be the cover story for the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, began after a recent discovery. In some cases, cancer patients with a severe COVID-19 infection saw a temporary regression of their cancer, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute."That was what really sparked our interest," Bharat said. Bharat and his team, investigating why that regression happened, learned that the RNA within the COVID-19 virus triggers the development of a unique immune cell that can fight cancer.The findings will help develop a treatment that mimics how the virus makes those immune cells. The results show promise for treating some of the most common cancers, including melanoma, lung, breast and colon cancer, Bharat said. The study was done using both human tissues and animal models. Researchers found that the COVID-19 virus is able to transform the common monocyte, a white blood cell in the immune system, into a powerful immune cell. Those cells are then able to travel and attack cancer cells inside tumors."It's incredible, and a big surprise, that the same infection that caused so much devastation can help create a cancer-fighting cell," Bharat said. Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, led a team of researchers exploring how the COVID-19 virus can be harnessed to fight cancer. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times That function can also potentially be replicated in a drug, researchers learned, which would especially benefit patients with aggressive or advanced cancers who have tried other treatments.Making things more promising, the cancer cells couldn't develop a resistance to the immune cells, Bharat said. That would be a big help for patients who develop a resistance to immunotherapy, one of the mainstays of cancer treatments.Some patients see their cancer return after immunotherapy because the cancer cells are able to mutate and evade the treatment.Immunotherapy relies on recruiting T cells to fight cancer. But these cells created by the COVID-19 virus are able to recruit natural killer cells, which are more effective at destroying cancer cells. "The most amazing thing is the effectiveness of these cells," Bharat said.Any treatment that comes from these findings would not replace immunotherapy, but would be used alongside it or as a secondary option if immunotherapy fails, Bharat said.The findings are also unique to the COVID-19 RNA virus. Other RNA infections like influenza do not have the same ability to create cancer-fighting immune cells, researchers found.The next step for researchers is to develop and begin a clinical trial of the treatment to test on cancer patients. Bharat is hopeful.“We are in the early stages, but the potential to transform cancer treatment is there," Bharat said. Related Woman with Stage 4 colon cancer receives a double-lung transplant at Northwestern, becomes ‘part of medical history’ Double-lung transplant by Northwestern team saves life of Chicagoan hit by COVID-19, cancer