Coronavirus may help researchers in fighting cancer, according to scientist - Fox News

Shashi Gujar, with the department of pathology at Dal, along with colleagues in the United States, Denmark, France, Germany, and India, is studying if the immune response against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could be repurposed to fight cancer using the immune system, a news release on the Dalhousie University website stated?

The body’s immune system detects foreign viruses and bacteria as threats but it does not do this to cancer, the release stated.

Shashi Gujar, with a group of international collaborators, is studying if the immune response against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could be repurposed to fight cancer using the immune system<br>?

“We’ve figured out how to trick your coronavirus-specific T cells to think that your cancer is infected by the virus,” Dr.

The release explained that when a person contracts SARS-CoV-2, the immune system recognizes the virus and “T cells” activate and act in a specific manner to kill only cells harboring the virus, the release explained.

Experts have explained to Fox News that T cells have “memory cells” that are retained in the body after a person fights an infection.

The “memory cells” will act as an alarm and help the immune system identify and produce antibodies to attack the foreign virus or other germs if it enters the body again, according to the federal health agency.

The authors said in the study release that coronavirus-specific T cells can search for the SARs-CoV-2 virus in the body, and destroy regions where the virus replicates and help the body recover from a COVID-19 infection.

The team of scientists are trying to get the T cells to attack the tumors by getting the cancer cells to express the same identifying markers as coronavirus-virus harboring cells, and thereby becoming targets of the coronavirus fighting T-cells, the release explained.

The coronavirus-specific cells can potentially be found in millions of people globally due to infection or a vaccine, making this type of cancer immunotherapy useful for a worldwide population, the release said.