Unusual Cancers: Can COVID Be Blamed?

by Mila McManus, MD

Findings show a glaring uptick in unusual, aggressive, late-stage, and multiple cancers since the COVID pandemic began.

Several cancer institutions and early national data are showing a glaring uptick in unusual, aggressive, late-stage, and multiple cancers since the COVID-19 pandemic began. While some experts have mostly dismissed the trend, many oncology specialists have refused to stop trying to understand if the coronavirus could somehow be igniting cancer. This topic has been circulating around for a while now in the functional medicine world, and since this information recently appeared in my inbox from mainstream media (Washington Post), I thought it would be a good time to share it.

The exact biological mechanism of action is not clear. Although, as the science on the COVID virus has evolved, studies show widespread inflammation following infection. As a result, there is marked impact on the vascular system and infection in multiple organs that are vulnerable to cancer stem cell development. For Afshin Beheshti, president of the COVID-19 International Research Team and a cancer biology specialist, this has been a nagging paradigm igniting his passion to work with other interested oncology researchers to launch more studies to piece together the puzzle of coronavirus infection, long covid, and cancer. Striking findings point to the importance of the immune system in activating dormant cells, making sense to the idea that influenza or COVID could trigger inflammation, changing the immune microenvironment, and reawakening cancer cells.

Dr. Elroy Vojdani, a functional medicine physician and founder of Immunosciences Lab, has a different hypothesis. He conservatively estimates that since 1999, autoimmune disease in the US has been increasing by 8-10% every year. Vojdani attributes increased cases of cancer and auto-immunity to a massive dysregulation of our immune function. He proposed that, over time, immune insults have dramatically increased: increased rates of C-sections, less breastfeeding, early use of antibiotics, gut-busting drugs such as acid blockers, anti-inflammatories, and steroids, increased consumption of ultra-processed foods, and the depletion of our microbiome from glyphosate and other toxic exposure. As a result, when the COVID pandemic arrived, many Americans had lost the immune resilience to cope with the virus, leading to long-term increases in unusual cancers and autoimmune diseases.

The T-regulatory cell is an important immune cell in the human body. The largest population of them is in the intestinal gut lining. If your gut is compromised, so is your immune system. Treatment of all diseases by focusing on gut health, diet, and lifestyle is fundamental to restoring immune resiliency [the ability to bounce back from inflammatory attacks]. Specifically, a healthy gut is protective against the cascade of inflammation that leads to cancer, autoimmunity, long-covid, and chronic infections from parasites, molds, viruses, and harmful bacteria.

Whether or not the coronavirus is directly responsible for an increase in unusual cancers is unclear. It is clear that a resilient immune system is your best defense against disease, and this begins in the gut.

Restore the gut. Restore immunity. Be well.

Resources:

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/

The Root Causes of Inflammation & What You Can Do To Stop it. August 19, 2024, Episode 937, drhyman.com, The Doctor’s Farmacy podcast.

What is T-Detect COVID Testing?

T-Detect COVID is the first T cell test for COVID-19 available in the U.S

What are T cells?

T cells are key players in the adaptive immune system. When the body is invaded by a foreign substance like a virus or bacteria, the immune system rallies one of its earliest lines of defense, helper T cells, to join the fight.

Helper T cells may call on their allies to kickstart antibody production to support the fight against the disease. Helper T cells also alert other types of T cells to the presence of foreign invaders to be targeted and destroyed.

After the body has fought off an infection or disease, a small number of T cells remain in the blood. They are called memory T cells and their job is to remember how to ward off these invaders if they ever return.

What is T-Detect COVID?

T-Detect COVID is the first T cell test for COVID-19 available in the U.S. (not available in U.S. Territories) to those over age 18. It measures T cells instead of antibodies to detect recent or past SARS-CoV-2 infection (the virus that causes COVID-19).

How does T-Detect COVID work?

T cells are the first responders of the adaptive immune system and activate the antibody response. While antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) naturally wane and are detectable in the shorter term, T cell responders can persist in the blood long after antibody responses wane.

T-Detect COVID can detect T cells in a blood and recognize the SARS-CoV-2 virus for up to 10 months after symptoms appear (90% sensitivity).

What does T-Detect COVID measure?

T-Detect COVID can detect an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, to assess recent or past infection. It is not intended for the diagnosis of active/current SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The T-Detect® Assay – Blood test

The T-Detect COVID Assay is intended for use as an aid in identifying individuals with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, indicating recent or prior infection. The T-Detect COVID Assay uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to assess the rearranged T-cell receptor beta (TCRβ) gene sequences to present in genomic DNA isolated from human peripheral blood. This test is not intended for diagnosis of active SARS-CoV-2 infection.

T-Detect is available by prescription only. T-Detect results should always be used in combination with clinical examination, patient medical history, and other findings.

Call our office (281-298-6742) for more information and/or to schedule blood draw. The test costs $259

Reference: https://www.t-detect.com/