Steven Ellet
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Does the immune system attack diseases inside a tumor (cancerous or otherwise)?
Not necessarily, and probably more often not. This is the reason for the development of immunotherapy.Steven Ellet said:Does the immune system attack diseases inside a tumor (cancerous or otherwise)?
https://www.cancer.org/treatment/tr...ypes/immunotherapy/what-is-immunotherapy.htmlClearly there are limits on the immune system’s ability to fight cancer on its own, because many people with healthy immune systems still develop cancer:
To overcome this, researchers have found ways to help the immune system recognize cancer cells and strengthen its response so that it will destroy them. In this way, your own body is actually getting rid of the cancer, with some help from science.
- Sometimes the immune system doesn’t see the cancer cells as foreign because the cells aren’t different enough from normal cells.
- Sometimes the immune system recognizes the cancer cells, but the response might not be strong enough to destroy the cancer.
- Cancer cells themselves can also give off substances that keep the immune system from finding and attacking them.
It depends. It's thought that tumors develop all the time but the immune system monitors for them and kills them ("immune surveillance"). For a tumor to develop it has to learn to escape this immune response ("immunoediting"). It does this in a number of ways - modulating cell surface antigens, secreting immunosuppressive cytokines and other factors, recruiting immune-suppressive cells, etc., etc. The number of ways tumors use is extensive. Some tumors are less successful and are called "hot tumors" because they are filled with immune cells. These tumors are the ones that are successfully treated with checkpoint inhibitors that can reactivate those immune cells. Others are pretty much devoid of immune cells and are called "cold tumors". The current challenge is turning cold tumors hot so the immune system can eradicate them.Steven Ellet said:Does the immune system attack diseases inside a tumor (cancerous or otherwise)?
Steven Ellet said:To clarify, I’m not asking if the immune system attacks tumors. I’m asking if a disease (such as the common cold) will go unchecked in a tumor.
I have heard about this research. For example - https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-07-05/study-strain-of-common-cold-virus-could-cure-bladder-cancerYgggdrasil said:2) In general, viruses can infect cancer cells, and some are exploring this as a means to develop oncolytic viruses (viruses that selectively infect cancer cells but not non-cancerous cells).
So, one is asking if a virus could enter tumor cells, replicate and spread?Steven Ellet said:I’m asking if a disease (such as the common cold) will go unchecked in a tumor.
The main concern seems to be that a severe infection may lead to a fatal pneumonia in someone whose system is already compromised.Infections are a major complication of cancer and its treatment. Community acquired respiratory viral infections (CRV) in these patients increase morbidity, mortality and can lead to delay in chemotherapy. These are the result of infections with a heterogeneous group of viruses including RNA viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza virus (IV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), metapneumovirus (HMPV), rhinovirus (RhV), and Coronavirus (CoV). These infections maintain a similar seasonal pattern to those of immunocompetent patients. Clinical manifestations vary significantly depending on the type of virus and the type and degree of immunosuppression, ranging from asymptomatic or mild disease to rapidly progressive fatal pneumonia Infections in this population are characterized by a high rate of progression from upper to lower respiratory tract infection and prolonged viral shedding.
Exactly, my idea was to first give the patient a virus/bacteria to get the system to recognize the pathogen, then when they are cured of it, inject it into the tumor and let it run wild.Astronuc said:So, one is asking if a virus could enter tumor cells, replicate and spread?