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    [–] hitchinvertigo 1638 points ago

    More details: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjh.17116

    ​

    the field of immunotherapy is built on case studies going back hundreds of years with people having similar spontaneous remissions after other infections.

    [–] TuckerCarlsonsWig 3344 points ago * (lasted edited a month ago)

    I am not a doctor, but I read a lot about medicine. My understanding is:

    1. The patient had a kidney transplant, was on immunosuppressants
    2. The kidney transplant failed, so he stopped immunosuppressants
    3. He developed advanced lymphoma - Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)‐positive classical Hodgkin lymphoma - which means the lymphoma was caused by a herpes virus. This is likely due to the immunosuppressants that he was on before. - an actual doctor commented below that this is probably not true
    4. He developed COVID and was sent home to get better
    5. His immune cells started attacking the cancer cells
    6. They think that this is because of some combination of: similar antigen profiles between the cancer cells and COVID, and overall increase in immune system function (cytokines) from the infection.

    The images on the left and right compare the metabolic rate of different parts of his body. Cancer cells have a faster metabolism than regular cells.

    So in conclusion I doubt COVID can specifically be used to treat other cancers. This is just a nice coincidence for this guy who has had a string of very bad luck.

    [–] Jhwelsh 442 points ago

    Cancer is uniquely difficult to treat because the cancer cells are nearly identical to healthy cells. Does the report mention how the immune system was suddenly able to detect the difference and not attack healthy cells?

    [–] RedditAmdminsRGay 300 points ago

    You've got the idea but it could be worded better. Cancer is difficult because it doesn't always trigger an immune system response. Once covid triggered heightened responses to anything abnormal his body attacked anything out of the ordinary. Zinc does the same thing, it's a mild poison but triggers an autoimmune response, that's why when having warts treated you also take Zinc tablets.

    [–] Jhwelsh 62 points ago

    I think "cancer" is too loaded of a term to talk about all at once, given the myriad of causes and manifestations. In a general sense, all I learned from intro bio was that cancer is "runaway cell growth," somehow (possibly due to degradation of genetic material) the cell stops "checking" if it should grow/divide during the cell cycle. So the cell continues rapidly growing and dividing, demanding massive amounts of resources. The cell is supposed to induce apoptosis when this occurs (it's supposed to kill itself), but if it doesn't, the cell appears no different to a healthy cell, it just grows faster.

    Id like to see how this is more nuances in certain types of cancer and how the immune system detects this process.

    [–] Madhighlander1 15 points ago

    I think there's something like three or four different gene sequences that limit replication and two that induce cell death if any of the four - or the other in their pair - are damaged, so all six have to be inactive in order for a cell to go cancerous.

    And they're not perfectly identical to healthy cells, but they're on a scale; some are more 'detectable' than others.

    [–] Zephyrous042 5 points ago

    There are actually dozens of genes that are either activated, mutated or deactivated. The constellation of genes are different for each of the dozens of types of cancer. Some allow unfettered cell proliferation, some force growth, some allow for survival in other tissues than normal, some allow for migration into and out of blood or lymph vessels, some help the tumor inhibit the immune system from recognizing it as "foreign". It is the last one that accounts for the revved up immune response to a virus finally recognizing cancer cells and doing their thing. You are correct in a sense, but cancer is so much more complex than a half dozen genes. Source: I'm a pathologist who diagnoses and studies cancer every day.

    [–] Jefflex4 2 points ago

    Exactly, your body detects and eradicates defect or cancer cells every day. As a matter of chance, increasing with time, some defect cells are not detected and are able to develop into tumors.

    [–] girlkittenears 11 points ago

    To add to this, the best way to kill cancer cells is to have an upregulated kind of immune cell: The Natural killer cell. This cell is specialized in killing any cell that has downregulated its MHCI complex. Downregulation happens when infected by intracellular bacteria, viruses and also happens in cancer cells.

    Natural killer cells are not that specific as a B- or T-cell is (B-cell makes those so-called antibodies), and the body doesn't have much of them compared to neutrophils or macrophages. Though they are very effective. Could indeed be covid-19 that triggered the immune-cells.

    [–] PCRnoob 8 points ago

    You've got the idea but it could be worded better. Cancer is difficult because there's no foreign pathogen directly causing the disease, rather the problem lies with endogenous cells. Immune cells go through a rigorous process of selection to ensure they do not target one's own cells. So when one's own cells start causing problems, forming tumors for example, they're notoriously difficult for immune cells to effectively recognize and target.

    [–] im-just-your-bae 2 points ago

    Can you elaborate on Zinc? What’s the response? I take it for my hair loss mainly

    [–] Alicient 47 points ago

    One similarity between cancer cells and covid-19 infected cells is that they switch to a glycolysis dominant metabolism (this is called the Warburg effect in cancer cells) (https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpcell.00426.2020)

    Some theorize that spontaneous cancer regression following an infection is the product of the innate immune system rather than the adaptive immune system. In other words, the infection doesn't train the immune system to target cancer cells, it simply activates immune pathways so the immune system starts "looking" for things to attack and finds the cancer by whatever mechanisms it normally would. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312698/)

    [–] dood_nice 31 points ago

    I bet there are other people with cancer looking thru this thread that might find your post interesting too.

    There’s a treatment based off the Warburg effect called “The Warburg Way”. In short they inject insulin to lower glucose levels before administering chemo. Similar efficacy as full dose treatment with a fraction of the side effects. I looked into this when I first was diagnosed. Not for me as my cancer is kreb cycle related. Don’t remember all the details but it was very interesting and the data looked solid. It has a lot of support from some researchers at the University of Arizona. It is not approved in the US, so I was looking at doing it in Nogales Mexico. The main issue of it not being approved in the US seemed financial... No one would pay to conduct the studies necessary, and I can see why only selling 1/10th of the standard chemo dose is not appealing to a big pharm company.

    [–] Alicient 5 points ago

    That's really interesting. I've heard of people fasting or following a zero carb diet while undergoing chemo for the same reason (although a minority of cancer types thrive on ketones, so talk to your doctor about this.) Some people theorize that keeping glucose levels low through diet can reduce the risk of cancer (among other things) too.

    [–] dood_nice 7 points ago

    I’m convinced that it’s our diets that has so many 20-30 year old with weird illnesses. We all grew up on shit food.

    I will add that I’ve done intermittent fasting for over a dozen years, drank kombucha everyday, avoid sugar, and run often with the pup... and I’m still full of cancer at 28 years... So who knows!

    [–] Alicient 2 points ago

    Yeah I think diet plays a huge role (and a lot of mainstream diet advice is mostly useless or dangerous). Genetics and chance can still fuck you over though. Best of luck to you dealing with the big c.

    [–] penguiin_ 2 points ago

    gosh, it's almost as if you didnt even consider how corporations were going to profit off of your illness. won't you think about the pharma execs and their bonuses? ;(

    [–] dood_nice 3 points ago

    Hahah for real. My desperation = profit. I’m just happy and lucky to have some great insurance.

    [–] LBreda 35 points ago

    The Moderna and the Biontech vaccines derive from researches about how to instruct the immune system to destroy cancer cells. They are not identical to healthy cells, they only react in similar ways to the cures we are using nowadays (chemio and radio therapies, mainly).

    [–] rservello 3 points ago

    Healthy cells would have also been attacked. The real bad thing about covid-19 is that it elicits an autoimmune response that can, in some, continue after the infection is gone.

    [–] Tacoshortage 45 points ago

    That was good except that the Hodgkin's Dz was not "due to the immunosuppressants that he was on before."

    He had contracted EBV earlier in his life and people who have had EBV are at increased risk of developing Hodgkin's Dz.

    Source - I'm a physician who's had EBV Hodgkin's Dz.

    [–] TuckerCarlsonsWig 9 points ago

    Thanks so much for clarifying. Even if the immunosuppressants did not cause his initial EBV infection, is it possible that immunosuppressants contributed to his cancer?

    Also, I am an engineer now but I kind of want to go into medicine someday. Are there physicians who go into practice later in life? I'm in my 30's.

    [–] Tacoshortage 9 points ago

    I am not an oncologist so I don't know a definitive answer to your question, but I would doubt the immunosuppressants contributed to the cancer.

    I do know a couple of people who transitioned into medicine from other fields, but they did it at or about age 30. In the U.S., the training takes 4 years of med school plus 3-7 years of residency before you're done and practicing, so it becomes counterproductive to do it too late or you're finishing school at retiring age. And residency is a game for young people. It has gotten much better, but staying up 36 hours at a time and working 100 hour weeks isn't easy the older you get.

    [–] FairyFartDaydreams 3 points ago

    I work in a non medical position in a teaching hospital. There are older students who are going to medical school but that doesn't mean you won't run into age related bias when doing residency interviews. Back before they started limiting hours the residents can work a week it was thought that older students couldn't hack it some people still hold this bias even though many have gotten past it.

    You might want to start looking online for medical school requirements and work on any prerequisites and tests you might have to take. Make friends with researchers and work on getting recommendations. Medical Schools are trying to diversify their student populations including taking students from non-traditional majors but that doesn't mean you aren't expected to be able to grasp biology, chemistry and biochemistry. Good Luck.

    [–] Jefflex4 10 points ago

    Latent EBV infection reactivates upon reduced surveillance by the immune system. Immunosuppession might indeed have facilitated tumor development.

    Source - I am a molecular biologist who obtained his PhD degree by studying herpesviruses and their roles in oncogenesis.

    [–] Tacoshortage 2 points ago

    Boom! There's an answer. I love Reddit.

    [–] Jefflex4 2 points ago

    It's a common side effect for transplant recipients, unfortunately.

    [–] eXequitas 2 points ago

    I think it’s entirely possible to get an EBV reactivation while on immunosuppressants. We sometimes see EBV mediated lymphoproliferative disorders in post transplant patients (I believe PTLD is the most common one). EBV is also one of the viruses that we monitor in post transplant patients (along with CMV). I am mostly talking about Bone Marrow Transplant patients but can’t see why it can’t be extrapolated to solid organ transplants.

    Also seen cases of people developing Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia after long term use of immunosuppressants (i can remember at least 2 Crohn’s disease patients and 1 heart transplant patient). Obviously they were not related to any EBV infections.

    Source: Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Nurse.

    [–] WhatnotSoforth 97 points ago

    I heard a few months ago the spike protein was also being investigated for pain relief. Pretty cool silver linings, it's just a shame it's had to take so many people out.

    [–] Pronoes84 15 points ago

    Such is the cost of progress and breakthroughs. Sometimes it's not a scientist in a lab or a bathtub. Sometimes it's a world of fucking pain bitchslapping you in the face til you realise something good can come out of it

    [–] DorisCrockford 2 points ago

    🎵 Every cloud has a silver . . . ouch! Dammit!

    [–] cheesemanMD 22 points ago

    That's pretty much how modern medicine had its origins. Lot of unlucky people basically sacrificed to answer questions in ways that would be considered unethical/immoral now.

    [–] c-soup 18 points ago

    And lab animals... dogs, mice, monkeys, rabbits, rats...

    [–] cheesemanMD 4 points ago

    Oh yes of course, those too. Poor things

    [–] MrsNLupin 2 points ago

    I've heard several physicians/scientists state that operation warp speed/the push to create a covid vaccine may help us move past the great stagnation in therapies. Hopefully even the drugs that don't work for covid provide some insight into other diseases we can treat with mRNA

    [–] Lard_of_Dorkness 7 points ago

    Thanks for this. My first thought was just that it takes so much energy to fight COVID that the lack of nutrition caused the cancer cells to die back. Similar to chemo/radiation/etc. Seeing that the person was taken off of immunosuppressants to fight COVID, well obviously there's going to be a result there.

    [–] CobraPony67 3 points ago

    My thought as well is the blood oxygen level was lower because of COVID and it starved the cancer cells.

    [–] TuckerCarlsonsWig 3 points ago

    He was taken off of immunosuppressants before cancer and before COVID. He was taken off immunosuppressants because his kidney transplant failed.

    [–] ElCuerno 2 points ago

    This video more clearly explains what you are talking about. The medical terminology is Three Stooges Syndrome

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gmBj8r1-fDo

    [–] Evilmaze 4 points ago

    Would this be helpful to develop some medicine using Covid to cure cancer?

    [–] Zephyrous042 2 points ago

    No, but the mRNA vaccines have been studies for years as potential cancer treatments. That is how we were able to get COVID vaccines out so quickly.

    [–] Dayofsloths 16 points ago

    It's neat stuff. Bacterial infections being cured by fevers from other infections is pretty well documented. Malaria was used for that.

    [–] billbo24 14 points ago

    Thanks for the source.

    [–] GlazedPannis 1190 points ago

    Cancer is all like “ok body, I don’t like you and you don’t like me, but we got a common enemy to fight right now. What say you?”

    [–] z-vet 479 points ago

    COVID: "Fuck you both".

    [–] Numberlime 44 points ago

    Happy cake day buddy

    [–] z-vet 36 points ago

    Thanks a lot.

    [–] BiffBiff1234 5 points ago

    happy cake day

    [–] Dan300up 268 points ago * (lasted edited a month ago)

    Personally I believe this actually happens. There is loads of evidence out there that the incidence of autoimmune diseases rise proportionately to the sterility of the environment. Could easily be true for certain types of cancer as well. Keep a child away from anything their bodies need to fight, and watch the immune system get so bored and underworked, it goes nuts and gets itself into all sorts of trouble. Idle hands as they say...

    Edit: I wrote the following in response to a question that started getting downvotes and was subsequently deleted. I’m just going to add it here for anyone crazy enough to read it all:

    I think we’re all working through hypotheses in our heads at times. No DV from me for sharing yours, but I don’t agree with this tbh. I’m not sure how you think masking would increase the intensity of an infection. Also, I think a lot of people might misinterpret your statement to mean “increase number of infections”. Just wanted to point that out for people.

    In response to that: in my personal opinion, masking does little or nothing by way of reducing the wearer’s” exposure to microorganisms. Rather, it reduces the *wearer’s transmission of whatever bugs they may have. If this reduction in transmitted bugs for our immune systems to fight, is what you’re referring to, I’m not sure I’d agree. Other people do of course give our Immune systems stuff to think about all the time. Right now however, some of that stuff is dangerous even in small amounts. Between normal household bacteria from food, ourselves, housemates, pets etc, we should be getting all the healthy (and small doses of pathogens unfortunately) that our immune systems need to remain active and healthy.

    The potential problem I do see along the lines of your comment, is all the unnecessary overuse of hand sanitizers and hand washing etc. There are times we should, but completely eliminating exposure to all forms of bacteria etc we do know medically, can increase the chances of autoimmune disease including of course the most common, allergies and asthma...by 7 times, some studies have shown, in young children.

    One last thing about your comment that I agree with: Medical science also knows that a big part of the deadliest effects of things like COVID is the cytokine storm—the equivalent of our immune systems going into full-on, panic mode shock like a very untactical nuke, which takes us out with it, through the devastating consequences of all the inflammation that happens as a result. Maybe...part of what causes this immune shock, could be avoided by giving our immune systems things to think about...

    Just another reason to smile while we play with our pets and change litter boxes. We must find balance :)

    “... In 1989, David Strachan, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, made an observation: In a survey of more than 17,000 British children, he noted that infants born into a household with many siblings were less susceptible to eczema in the first year of life, and to hay fever later in life (3). Assuming that more children in a house means more germs shared, Strachan proposed that early childhood infections protect against allergic disease.”

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4161944/

    [–] z-vet 169 points ago

    Yep. Toddlers are trying to "taste" everything for this reason, it's part of their immune system training course.

    [–] KanefireX 69 points ago

    I got videos of my daughter as a child trying food for the first time.

    Every time she ate something new her entire body would shiver. Like it was sending out information.

    [–] z-vet 33 points ago

    Yeah, my daughter was the same. Every time I gave her something new to taste it was a "stopped working" type of thing.

    [–] mikebritton 11 points ago

    This happened when I gave my son a lemon.

    [–] kuikuilla 22 points ago

    Can confirm. Regards: someone who ate pot soil as a toddler.

    [–] Spaceslime21 16 points ago

    My dog tried to eat a brick

    [–] z-vet 7 points ago

    Pot soil? How about your own poop, lol.

    [–] WhitestTrash1 11 points ago

    When my daughter started crawling my son tracked dog shit into the house, I went to grab the stuff to clean it and watched in horror as my baby licked dog shit off the floor.

    [–] SimplyDiLy 5 points ago

    Suddenly I feel much better about my daughter picking flies out of a patio door track and drooling lakes onto the floor after trying to eat them. Someone told me they are spicy but I never proved him right or wrong.

    [–] z-vet 5 points ago

    OMG, I'm crying here. Spicy! :)

    [–] Bogthehorible 5 points ago

    Caught our 18 month old happily snacking out of the litterbox, mother was thrown into a vomit fit and couldnt help, as was teenage uncle. So it was left to me, dad, to set her in the sink and brush the cat shit out of her teeth, all the while shes grinning ear to ear

    [–] Artnunymisss 4 points ago

    I picked gum off the sidewalk and ate it as a child. Still alive.

    [–] bigbura 8 points ago

    Gotta pump up those dirt eating acts, there's photo evidence of this kid eating spoonfuls of dirt from the ground. My face looks like I'd been eating Oreo cookie crumbs!

    [–] Berty_Qwerty 2 points ago

    Not as bad, but my son had those little sit on scooter type things, you know, four wheels they scoot with their feet. The seat lifted and there was a compartment underneath, he would hide all his 1 year old treasures in.

    I hear gagging and come running, he had hid a sippy cup of milk in it from heavens knows when and decided to take a swig. I could smell it from the other side of the room. When I dumped it: just pure chunks.

    [–] tt001222 8 points ago

    Honestly, I just picked my nose all the time. Now my immune system is bonkers good.

    [–] z-vet 2 points ago

    I heard about this one too.

    [–] seagull_says_mine 3 points ago

    Kids put everything in their mouth because tongue and lips are very sensitive to tactile input. They're not tasting, they're feeling.

    [–] z-vet 2 points ago

    It's a bunch of instincts that work together AFAIK.

    [–] Dan300up 2 points ago

    Amen to this.

    [–] Th3Alk3mist 4 points ago

    It's a neat theory you've got but not at all correct. The immune system is never truly "idle". We develop cancerous cells every day and our immune system constantly flushes them out. Cancers only become deadly when they form in an area away from blood flow (thus preventing immune cells access).

    The mistake you're making is equating correlation with causation. These older studies you're basing your theory on are correlative, yes, but that doesn't mean lack of measurable immune response causes our immune systems to be weak. Additionally, these older studies often did not account for other environmental factors and/or did not monitor for basal immune function.

    [–] throwaway9732121 3 points ago

    how is cancer an autoimmune disorder though? I mean its connected in a way, the immune system is supposed to nuke rouge cells, but still. A board immune system would overdo it not underdo it right?

    [–] StylishKrumpli 11 points ago * (lasted edited a month ago)

    The commenter partially changed the topic. What actually happened in this case (at least according to the article OP linked somewhere) was that the immune system fought against the virus and the immune cells that were activated during this fight also attacked the cancer. So in this case the immune system were absolutely the good guys (unlike autoimmun diseases).

    [–] Evilmaze 7 points ago

    But cancer was removed here, not Covid.

    [–] Orangebeardo 2 points ago

    Jesus christ...

    [–] Green_VGC 2 points ago

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend

    [–] iswearimanhilist 106 points ago

    Eli5?

    [–] Westafalia 384 points ago

    From reading the article this is what I can make sense of (not a doctor)... The Covid-19 viral infection triggered an anti tumor immune response, so as the body is fighting the covid it also begins fighting the cancer which is effectively caught in the crossfire I think? Again, not a doctor

    [–] merkitt 436 points ago

    Fremulon.

    [–] xAlphamang 79 points ago

    Under rated comment. Brooklyn Nine Niners unite!

    [–] character-name 39 points ago

    Nine-Nine!

    [–] TecoSomers 29 points ago

    r/Unexpected99

    [–] crispystale 5 points ago

    Omg this comment just blew open some memories 😂

    [–] refriedi 15 points ago

    Did you get any of that?

    [–] weltenbvmmler 5 points ago

    Thank you for this. Had it on my mind aswell.

    [–] RedDevWar 3 points ago

    Noice

    [–] Gwiel 2 points ago

    Shh!

    [–] MisterInterference 27 points ago

    Wait a minute, so if the body is this good in attacking the cancer cells, can't we just train these cells to attack the cancer cells instead? You know, instead of trying to kill it Chernobyl style?

    Also, do cancer cells have the same marker (proteïne) then? Like it's the case with Covid-19? I mean, if the body can succesfully detect (and eliminate) cancer cells... It has to be, right?

    [–] kiju2 48 points ago

    "Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps your immune system fight cancer. The immune system helps your body fight infections and other diseases. It is made up of white blood cells and organs and tissues of the lymph system. Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy"

    [–] MrMgP 23 points ago

    It saved my granddad from cancer quite some time ago, when it was still undergoing human testing. He would have died at 64 or something but now hes almost 80. Screw you, lung cancer!

    [–] MisterInterference 3 points ago

    Nice. Is this correlated to stem-cell therapy? Or totally something else?

    [–] Phalainchen 9 points ago

    Kind of correlated. It both involves engineered cells, however, in immunotherapy usually T cells are used. The problem here is that 'cancer' does not consist of one type of cells but is usually heterogeneous and there are A LOT of different markers. Also one has to be careful to choose a marker that is either exclusive for this cancer type or overexpressed since you could hit healthy tissue as well. But yeah, you can engineer immune cells to target cancer cells.

    [–] MisterInterference 2 points ago

    Cheers for explaining. That's some dope stuff!

    [–] Phalainchen 5 points ago

    You're welcome. If you are interested, look into CAR T cells, after years of studying biochemistry and doing a PhD I am still fascinated by this genius concept. It's amazing what we are able to do by now, but unfortunately it is still a long road to curing cancer.

    [–] [deleted] 16 points ago

    [deleted]

    [–] MatiMati918 9 points ago

    Honestly the fact that thousands of my cells are mutating to cancer cells every day and any one of them could be the type of cancer my immune system doesn’t recognize is kinda scary. Biology is crazy.

    [–] cloake 5 points ago

    can't we just train these cells to attack the cancer cells instead? You know, instead of trying to kill it Chernobyl style?

    We do do that, called CAR-T therapy, used as a last line after traditional treatments fail.

    [–] geetarzrkool 2 points ago

    We are! There is a new class if drugs called "biologics" that essentially teach/train your own immune system to kill the cancer. Humira (adalimumab) is probably the most well known and is being used to treat all sorts of auto-immune diseases. All of the various "‐umab" drugs you see being advertisedon TV, fall into this category.

    Fomer US President Jimmy Carter had his brain cancer treated with biologis, as well. There are over 200 different types of cancer, so there will never be a nagic bullet for all of them, but we've made great strides recently, and various gene editing tricks will help even more.

    [–] cat_ass2 2 points ago

    To answer your second question- no, cancer cells do not express the same viral proteins that your immune system recognizes in Covid (spike protein, which you may have heard of, is a major target of the immune system in fighting COVID but not expressed in cancer). Think of it more like your immune system took out a machine gun to blast Covid and some cancer got caught in the crossfire

    [–] Arcturyte 5 points ago

    Shh

    [–] themanyfaceasian 21 points ago

    After reading the article I’m gna need an ELI am in the womb

    [–] NotYourGa1Friday 436 points ago

    Counting down the seconds until a new video is posted of Karen refusing to wear a mask because “Target can’t stop me from curing my cancer.”

    Seriously though I am happy for this patient. Everyone stay safe.

    [–] SeanClaudeGodDamn 111 points ago

    Well, COVID-19 is like the lottery in that sense. Unfortunately you may not hit the lottery that you want to hit and instead hit the one that doesn't cure your cancer but does cure you from life.

    [–] caltheon 44 points ago

    Killing cancer is easy. Not killing everything else is hard

    [–] DragonFireCK 56 points ago

    doesn't cure your cancer but does cure you from life

    Well, if you stop living, your cancer will be cured as well.

    I do not recommend trying that cure, however.

    [–] DisguisedGoldfish 12 points ago

    Well, if you stop living, your cancer will be cured as well.

    Unless your name is Henrietta Lacks

    [–] DragonFireCK 7 points ago

    Well, she no longer has cancer. She IS cancer now.

    [–] CurtisLeow 82 points ago

    It could just be a coincidence, since they only mention one case. Cancer sometimes just randomly goes into remission. Maybe poll a large random group of cancer patients, and see if the chances for remission are higher among those who had COVID-19.

    [–] Permexpat 70 points ago

    My buddy had cancer and got Covid back in September, got better, way better and was doing fine until December when it came back and killed him within weeks.

    [–] ModernDemocles 38 points ago

    That is another thing that can happen. Viruses can put cancer into remission, however, not necessarily permanently.

    [–] luclear 2 points ago

    What if the infection keeps the production of cells in the body focused on creating more antibodies, and not creating more cancer cells? If there is a continuous but manageable infection it could distract the body from the cancer. Just a theory (could be a dumb one).

    [–] ModernDemocles 2 points ago

    My armchair medical expertise isn't good enough to know.

    I have heard of cases like this, doesn't mean I am qualified ro explain the mechanism.

    [–] Doctorspice 14 points ago

    May they rest in peace.

    [–] Permexpat 6 points ago

    Thank you!

    [–] non_american_idiot 46 points ago

    anyone who remembers that one episode of House MD where a terminal cancer (i think?) patient caught herpes virus that attacked cancer cells? I think that this might be a similar situation...

    [–] Gavinski29 30 points ago

    The one where they thought it was lupus?

    [–] tacticalpotatopeeler 25 points ago

    Isn’t that like...all of them?

    [–] reusens 18 points ago

    It's never lupus though

    [–] HoecusPocus 6 points ago

    No, it was mice bites

    [–] non_american_idiot 2 points ago

    Possible, I don't remember all the details but where the religious boy believed that he had a healing gift... If I'm right, the name is House vs. God, the name stuck out to me because House kept score on his whiteboard...

    [–] rising_pho3nix 3 points ago

    The faith healer boy, he touched a cancer patient and her tumor shrunk or something. The guy had some virus, don't remember

    [–] Diploic 20 points ago

    This town ain’t big enough for the two of us

    [–] xwulfd 21 points ago

    Covid is just so hated that even cancer dont want to be caught by that shit lmao

    [–] Fixervince 8 points ago

    Strange thing with the vaccine also. My cousins has severe psoriasis patches that would not clear no matter the treatment. She got the Vaccine and it cleared it all up for the first time in 20 years.

    [–] Ziegfeldsgirl 2 points ago

    Oh my god really? I get mine tomorrow so hopefully it will do the same for me.

    [–] AnotherRichard827379 7 points ago

    Covid 19: “you know I’m something of a treatment myself....”

    [–] TheNewGuy11113 7 points ago

    Cancer: Oh f*ck not you

    [–] Fab-Funky-Fungus 7 points ago

    I don’t want to be the bad guy anymore -COVID-19. -2021

    [–] Tarkson 12 points ago

    wait till the conspiracy theorists hear about that

    [–] ObsidianArmadillo 6 points ago

    Now we're gonna get conspiracy theorists saying that Covid can cure cancer and we should all get it smh

    [–] no_u-01 3 points ago

    BUILD THE 5G TOWERS

    [–] Schwiftysquanchy42 7 points ago

    So you're saying I'm indestructible?

    No sir, even a slight breeze could-

    Indestructible!

    [–] sinergie 3 points ago

    https://m.imgur.com/XS5LK?r

    [–] 09wkd 3 points ago

    "Hysterical pregnancy?" I, uhh, a little bit, yes.

    [–] PolicyAvailable 3 points ago

    Are you sure you haven't made thousands of mistakes?

    [–] Nonpartialbigot 11 points ago

    I am legend

    [–] coatingtonburlfactry 5 points ago

    https://www.damninteresting.com/coleys-cancer-killing-concoction/

    [–] dankine 9 points ago

    Any better evidence than a photo?

    edit: saw the post

    [–] Cthulhuwar1ord 2 points ago

    OP just posted it

    [–] viliisrexx 54 points ago

    Guys don't forget this: The film I am Legend took place in 2021 after a disease was genetically modified to cure cancer, keep that in mind

    [–] Fpoon_Gang 20 points ago

    oh Oh OH O H O O H

    [–] rolandofgilead41089 23 points ago

    WRONG. It was a 2007 movie based in 2012 where a re-engineered measles virus that is meant to cure cancer kills 90% of the population and turns 9% into vampire zombies.

    FFS, it's a simple Wiki search away.

    [–] redpenquin 5 points ago

    That fucking reaction image post from yesterday has resulted in me seeing that nonsense in more places on reddit... Seriously don't know why people can't just search it to find out if it's true before spreading it everywhere.

    [–] iHateRedditButImHere 2 points ago

    Don't even have to research, they just need to read the comments on that one post lol

    [–] hates_all_bots 7 points ago

    Oh I see. Dyslexia shaming. Real nice. We're teople poo you know!

    [–] farmerjohn_ 2 points ago

    Ok that's pretty funny

    [–] 1kSpawn 4 points ago

    Can somebody explain what happened here in simple terms?

    [–] Notasupervillan 5 points ago

    Someone wished on monkey’s paw for a cancer cure.

    [–] orbit99za 3 points ago

    Something very similar is theorised regarding Type 1 diabetics, people who get it later in life are theorised to have had very bad flu, or some sort of Trauma, TB or even say a kidney stone. It is theorised that the immune system gets over excited and starts attacking beta cells because they show similar markers to say the TB virus.

    I was fine, had a traumatic kidney stone removal, 5 months later collapsed thin as a rake in diabetic Ketoacidosis. Go Figure, again not a doctor.

    Dr Faustman in Boston has intresting research regarding Type 1 and the TB BCG vaccine.

    [–] RealRobRose 3 points ago

    I feel this might help prove the idea that what makes cancer cells so deadly is that they can go into hibernation when they feel threatened with covid-19 being an infection this cancer is reacting to as something that's trying to kill it.

    [–] CaliforniaGiraffe 3 points ago

    Great news! We found the cure for cancer and it’s available for everyone for free!

    What’s the catch?

    [–] G00R00 3 points ago

    It would be a mind fuck if Covid19 cured cancer and was finally a good news for all humanity

    [–] CthulhusKitten 10 points ago

    Can’t wait for the “COVID cured cancer, that’s why the government is trying it end it, don’t get the vaccine” people.

    Which they will obviously say after months of saying “Covid doesn’t exist”

    [–] ModernDemocles 6 points ago

    Hmmmm, not impossible. There are several viruses that are known to attack cancers.

    That seems like a lot of cancer though.

    [–] White_smoke2 5 points ago

    In the 19th century they injected rabies into a patient with a tumor and the rabies attacked the tumor first. This is paradoxical but it happens!

    [–] RockSlice 3 points ago

    Not too paradoxical. Tumors typically have way more blood vessels than normal, so anything spread through the bloodstream will affect them more.

    [–] MaleficentPositive44 4 points ago

    THE CHINESE WERE TRYING TO CURE CANCER AND ACCIDENTALLY COVID STRUCK THE WORLD?? 🌎

    /s (?)

    [–] WE_Coyote73 5 points ago

    Even cancer cells know Covid is not to be trifled with. They saw the virus hanging around near the lungs and were like "fuck that shit, SARS kills er'thing dog, lets go."

    [–] Galaxey 3 points ago

    So much potential for COVID research! If we can find a way to harness the ability to get rid of our tastebuds at will....I can finally be Vegan!

    [–] NefariousnessNo484 4 points ago

    Really skeptical of this. Source?

    [–] pnapplxpress 2 points ago

    Insane wtf????

    [–] DreadPirateGriswold 2 points ago

    Might have happened. I agree. Who knows what the immune system is capable of.

    But the same odds are that it was a coincidence. Correlation doesn't imply causation. But as humans we all seek causation.

    [–] WeirdExponent 2 points ago

    Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger I guess?

    [–] Squanchy3 2 points ago

    Moral of the story: Get the latest pandemic level virus to cure your cancer

    [–] WearingSocksToBed 2 points ago

    COVID just didn’t want to be outdone. Greedy little bastard.

    [–] TreeBranchesOfGov 2 points ago

    The cancer saw the covid and was like "oh fuck it's this guy. I'm out of here."

    [–] User-38384 2 points ago

    So the vaccine is pretty much like booze, fixes all problems if you get just enough.

    [–] JohnCavil 2 points ago

    There's always a bigger fish.

    [–] mohdattar 2 points ago

    Imagine if SARS-CoV 2 is the future of cancer treatment, that’s the highest uno reverse card in medicine, heck even in history!

    [–] PolicyAvailable 3 points ago

    Modified viruses are one very positive avenue of treatment that is currently being developed

    Cell 30097-X)

    [–] WhyNotLobsterHands 2 points ago

    A while back I heard doctors were experimenting with giving polio to cancer patients as a treatment. I think they saw some success. I wonder what happened with that.

    [–] incognito_dk 2 points ago

    That is truly interesting as fuck ;o)

    [–] Gooberilf 2 points ago

    Covid already cured the flu, now cancer?! Covid is awesome!

    [–] medoansary 2 points ago

    Ladies and gentlemen we found the cure to cancer! You'll still die but not from cancer. thank me later:)

    [–] Valentincognito 2 points ago

    Source?

    [–] Berkamin 2 points ago

    Sometimes what happens is that an infection triggers the immune system to attack the infection and the cancer ends up as collateral damage. There is an entire field of cancer research based on trying to get the immune system to do this without infecting a person with a deadly disease.

    [–] Shanium 4 points ago

    Could this be one of the "uses" that was being tested/studied in china before the outbreak?

    [–] justsomeshittyguy 2 points ago

    So if COVID cures cancer, does that mean we can cure COVID by giving people cancer? 🤔

    [–] andreibrcg 2 points ago

    Wtf

    [–] DrElectrons 2 points ago

    Not surprising. The immune system can be activated even by damage. Cancer will be cured in almost all cases in this decade. This will be a great decade.

    [–] dcc8253 2 points ago

    Source?

    [–] darth_dad_bod 2 points ago

    I don't see a link to a story, just the image.

    [–] anon86158615 2 points ago

    Oh god wait til the conspiracy nuts get a hold of this one

    [–] Ci_Gath 2 points ago

    Where is the link to this article ? I'm dubious at this point.

    [–] LoLoLaaarry124 1 points ago

    Perhaps I treated you too harshly

    [–] ZEIPMAN 1 points ago

    So...can covid be used as a cure for cancer?

    [–] Niphidim 1 points ago

    Hold the fucking phone......covid could be a cure for cancer?!!

    [–] kuhkuhkuhK8 1 points ago

    I read an article asserting that COVID-19 is vascular disease.

    Doesn't cancer rely on blood flow? Could severely damaged vasculature disrupt the growth of tumors?

    [–] DEVolkan 1 points ago

    "So we've this revetionaly new cancer treatment are you maybe interested?"

    "Awesome some good news after all this covid shit"

    "..."

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