Infect cancer with a virus
Canadians offered to treat cancer with a virusCopper news
Canadian scientists have developed a fundamentally new way to treat prostate cancer using a low-pathogenic virus for humans, EurekAlert reports!
(Reovirus may be a novel approach to prostate cancer treatment).
Reoviruses are widespread in nature. They do not cause serious diseases in humans – in most cases, infection either does not manifest itself in any way, or causes a slight lesion of the respiratory tract or digestive tract that does not require special treatment.
According to a study report published in the journal Cancer Research, these viruses have been found to have the ability to kill cells of malignant neoplasms, in particular ovarian, breast, lymphoid tissue, pancreatic, and glioma cancers. Scientists from the Tom Baker Cancer Center in Alberta for the first time conducted an experimental treatment of prostate cancer with a reovirus.
The study involved six patients whose tumor was at an early stage of development and did not go beyond the prostate gland. Each of them was given a single injection of the virus into the tumor node under the control of ultrasound. Three weeks later, as part of the planned cancer treatment, all volunteers underwent prostate removal surgery.
The study of the removed organs showed that in all patients the virus caused the death of cancer cells, and there were no signs of its reproduction in healthy tissues. The side effects of the treatment were poorly expressed and included mild manifestations of the common cold, passing by themselves.
According to researcher Don Morris, the success of the experiment allows us to move on to larger-scale clinical trials of the technique, as well as to explore the possibility of its use in other forms of cancer.