Measles infections don’t protect against cancer, experts caution
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview last year that measles infections can provide benefits to the immune system, including protection against cancer—a claim not backed up by evidence. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Tim Rebbeck was among the experts quoted in a Feb. 20 Oncology News Central article addressing this misinformation, and how clinicians can respond to patient questions.
The article noted that Kennedy may have been confused about a type of cancer treatment called oncolytic virotherapy, which uses genetically modified viruses to attack cancer cells. In a 2014 study, two patients with multiple myeloma responded to therapy using oncolytic measles virus.
But as Rebbeck, Vincent L. Gregory, Jr. Professor of Cancer Prevention and director of the Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention, explained in the Oncology News article, treatment with a manipulated virus is not the same as what people experience during an infection. “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,” Rebbeck said. “The oncolytic virotherapy uses viral particles or pieces of viruses to construct therapies.”
The article also noted that observational studies on associations between childhood measles infection and cancer have shown both increased and decreased risk—and none have been validated in any larger population-based studies.
If patients ask about these studies, experts in the article recommended first working to understand where patients are coming from and responding with curiosity, not judgment.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there, not just about cancer, but about health in general,” Rebbeck said. “Remind patients to not rely on just a single source of information and point them to trusted sources like the American Cancer Society or the National Institutes of Health. They should look for consistency of evidence, good consensus, and a message that has been vetted by experts over time.”
Read the Oncology News Central article: Measles as a Cancer Cure? Oncologists Should Brace for Misinformation
