Get Healthy!

  • Steven Reinberg
  • Posted July 20, 2020

Immunotherapy Safe for Cancer Patients with COVID-19: Study

Immunotherapy for cancer patients with COVID-19 appears safe, a preliminary study suggests.

The treatments activate a person's immune system against cancer.

Researchers have been wary, because many COVID-19 complications result from an overactive immune response that leads to increased production of proteins called cytokines that can cause issues such as respiratory failure.

"In patients with both COVID-19 and cancer, our team thought that immunotherapy might increase the immune system response, which could already be overactive because of the COVID-19 infection," researcher Layne Weatherford said in a University of Cincinnati news release. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the university.

For this ongoing study, the researchers are using blood samples from cancer patients with COVID-19. They are looking at how the therapy affects the immune cells of COVID-19 patients, as well as patients with both COVID-19 and cancer.

Preliminary data show that a diabetes drug, metformin, can reduce production of cytokine proteins in COVID-19 patients.

More research is needed, but the researchers said it may be possible to treat COVID-19 complications with metformin or a similar drug.

Weatherford noted that patients with cancer are more susceptible to COVID-19 as well as severe complications from it.

The findings were to be presented Monday at a virtual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Studies presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

For more on COVID-19, see the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: University of Cincinnati, news release, July 20, 2020
Health News is provided as a service to Martin's Pharmacy site users by HealthDay. Martin's Pharmacy nor its employees, agents, or contractors, review, control, or take responsibility for the content of these articles. Please seek medical advice directly from your pharmacist or physician.
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay All Rights Reserved.