Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jan 29, 2026 1 hour, 51 minutes ago
Medical News: A new scientific analysis is drawing renewed attention to overlooked biological risks linked to modern virus and cancer research, warning that certain laboratory practices could unintentionally create more dangerous viral traits if not properly governed. The study, conducted by researchers from the Center for Research in Medical Pharmacology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy, examines how small genetic overlaps between human genes and coronaviruses could pose future biosafety and biosecurity challenges.
New research warns that advanced cancer and virus studies may unintentionally create future biological
risks if safety gaps are not addressed.
Why a Tiny Genetic Match Matters
The research focuses on a short genetic fragment found in SARS-CoV-2 that perfectly matches a reversed segment of a human DNA repair gene known as MSH3. While the author stresses that this does not prove the virus was engineered, the overlap is used as a scientific model to explore how similar events could happen unintentionally during laboratory work, especially in cancer and drug research.
This small fragment sits in the virus’s furin cleavage site, a region that helps the virus enter human cells efficiently. Scientists now know this same region also acts as a nuclear localization signal, meaning it helps viral material enter the cell nucleus, something once thought unlikely for RNA viruses like coronaviruses.
How Viruses Exploit Human Cell Machinery
Human cells rely on DNA repair systems to survive damage caused by stress, infections, or cancer treatments. The MSH3 gene plays a key role in this repair process. The study explains that coronaviruses, although RNA-based, can interfere with these repair systems, hijacking them to boost viral survival and replication.
In laboratory environments where cancer drugs, DNA repair inhibitors, or large-scale gene-silencing experiments are used, viruses may face strong survival pressure. Under such conditions, rare “escape mutants” could emerge. These are viral versions that adapt quickly, gaining traits that make them more infectious, harder to control, or better able to evade immune defenses.
Cancer Research and Hidden Viral Risks
Modern cancer research increasingly uses viruses as tools to deliver therapies, silence genes, or stimulate immune responses. The study warns that when viruses are combined with automated gene-silencing technologies, such as siRNA libraries targeting thousands of human genes, the risk of unintended viral recombination increases.
Similar effects have already been observed in influenza research, where engineered viruses or pseudoviruses were able to silence DNA repair genes. The concern is that coronaviruses could theoretically acquire comparable abilities, allowing them to persist longer in the body or behave in unexpected ways.
Gaps in Current Safety Policies
According to this
Medical News report, current biosaf
ety rules often focus on known dangerous sequences but may overlook multifunctional genetic elements that serve more than one purpose, such as regions acting both as viral entry enhancers and nuclear targeting signals. This creates blind spots that could be exploited accidentally or maliciously.
Conclusions
The study concludes that while there is no evidence SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately engineered, modern biomedical research has reached a point where viruses, human genes, and automated technologies intersect in complex ways. Without updated oversight, these interactions could unintentionally foster viral traits that pose serious future risks. Strengthening ethical frameworks, improving genetic screening, and reassessing laboratory practices are essential steps to prevent such outcomes and protect global health.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Life.
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/16/2/199
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