p53: WHY CORONAVIRUSES ARE ALL THE RAGE

THEIR INTIMATE TIES TO HUMAN CANCER AND THE EXTREME DANGERS OF SARS-CoV-2

p53rage
March 12, 2021

It may all be about to a protein. The world may be on its knees in obeisance to a molecule's power. Coronaviruses have a unique ability to eradicate tumor cells.


Different viruses are currently being assessed for their capacity to function as anti-tumor agents, supplementing conventional cancer therapies. There are great potentials of a novel oncolytic virus, the murine hepatitis coronavirus (MHV), in destroying tumor cells in vitro.


Previous studies showed that the murine host cell tropism of MHV could be changed by substituting its spike protein, necessary for cellular binding and internalization, by the feline coronavirus counterpart. However, what can be oncolytic, can also be oncogenic. SARS-CoV-2 degrades p53, which is a tumor suppressor. It degrades it to the point that it no longer can protect human DNA. It is entirely likely that during SARS-CoV-2 infection, DNA damage is done that initiates tumor development. This is, perhaps, the most extreme danger we are facing.

Referenced/Related Papers

Viral strategies for circumventing p53: the case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus

https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7924916/


How a tumor suppressor indirectly inhibits coronaviruses

https://www.dzif.de/en/how-tumor-suppressor-indirectly-inhibits-coronaviruses


463. Coronaviruses Are Able to Efficiently Eradicate Human Tumor Cells if Provided with the Appropriate Virus Receptor

https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-therapy/comments/S1525-0016(16)40905-6