Last year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., participated in an interview with Fox Nation during which he claimed that a measles infection can have certain health benefits, including boosting the “immune system later in life against cancers.”
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A measles virus infection and oncolytic virotherapy with the measles virus are not the same, explained Timothy R. Rebbeck, PhD, the Vincent L. Gregory, Jr., Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
“When you have an infection like measles, you generate antibodies – a response to the very specific measles exposure that you have. That is a systemic and natural response to the infection,” Dr. Rebbeck said. “The oncolytic virotherapy uses viral particles or pieces of viruses to construct therapies.”
Oncolytic virotherapy often uses a virus that has been genetically modified. Researchers have explored the use of various viruses as cancer treatments, including the herpes simplex virus 1, adenovirus, reovirus, and cowpox virus.
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“Measles infection is not the same as manipulating a virus to create a cancer therapy,” Dr. Rebbeck said.
