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  • "Anti-Cancer Virus" Shows Promise

    "ANTI-CANCER VIRUS" SHOWS PROMISE

    Lragir.am News
    http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/society23184.html
    15:24:48 - 01/09/2011

    BBC: An engineered virus, injected into the blood, can selectively
    target cancer cells throughout the body in what researchers have
    labelled a medical first.

    The virus attacked only tumours, leaving the healthy tissue alone,
    in a small trial on 23 patients, according to the journal Nature.

    Researchers said the findings could one day 'truly transform'
    therapies. Cancer specialists said using viruses showed 'real promise'.

    Using viruses to attack cancers is not a new concept, but they have
    needed to be injected directly into tumours in order to evade the
    immune system.

    Scientists modified the vaccinia virus, which is more famous for
    being used to develop a smallpox vaccine.

    The virus, named JX-594, is dependent upon a chemical pathway, common
    in some cancers, in order to replicate.

    It was injected at different doses into the blood of 23 patients with
    cancers which had spread to multiple organs in the body.

    In the eight patients receiving the highest dose, seven had the virus
    replicating in their tumours, but not in healthy tissue.

    Prof John Bell, lead researcher and from the University of Ottawa,
    said: 'We are very excited because this is the first time in medical
    history that a viral therapy has been shown to consistently and
    selectively replicate in cancer tissue after intravenous infusion
    in humans.

    'Intravenous delivery is crucial for cancer treatment because it
    allows us to target tumours throughout the body as opposed to just
    those that we can directly inject.'

    Infection prevented further tumour growth in six patients for a time.

    However, the virus did not cure cancer. Patients were given only one
    dose of the virus as the trial was designed to test the safety of
    the virus.

    It is thought that the virus could be used to deliver treatments
    directly to cancerous cells in high concentrations.

    Prof Bell acknowledges that the research is still in the very early
    stages, but he said: 'I believe that some day, viruses and other
    biological therapies could truly transform our approach for treating
    cancer.'

    Cancer Research UK's Prof Nick Lemoine, also director of Barts Cancer
    Institute, said: 'Viruses that multiply in just tumour cells - avoiding
    healthy cells - are showing real promise as a new biological approach
    to target hard-to-treat cancers.

    'This new study is important because it shows that a virus previously
    used safely to vaccinate against smallpox in millions of people can
    now be modified to reach cancers through the bloodstream - even after
    cancer has spread widely through the patient's body.

    'It is particularly encouraging that responses were seen even in
    tumours like mesothelioma, a cancer which can be particularly hard
    to treat.'



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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