The problem with spike protein and cancer
World class cancer researcher shows spike protein from SARS-Cov-2 virus blunts a vital pathway in tumour suppression
It was early in the pandemic, March 2020, when Wafik El-Deiry, an oncologist and professor at Brown University, wondered if the novel SARS-Cov-2 virus, could increase a person’s risk of developing cancer. It wasn’t such an unusual proposition.
“We’ve always known that some viruses can cause cancer like Hepatitis B or C, Epstein Bar Virus, Human Papilloma Virus, and Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus,” explained El-Deiry. “So, I wondered whether there were aspects of SARS-Cov-2 that could lead to cancer down the track.”
As a world leader in cancer research, El-Deiry’s work has focused on a cellular pathway that plays a pivotal role in the development of cancer, called the p53 pathway.
p53 suppresses tumour growth, and any perturbation of this pathway can cause unregulated cell division, leading to cancer.
“Since the 1990s, my lab is well-known for identifying genes downstream of p53 that regulate its function,” said El-Deiry. “It’s the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers, and that’s why I’ve dedicated my life to studying p53.”
