Now, a ‘terminator’ virus to KO cancer
Published: September 20, 2005
US researchers claimed to have discovered effective viral based therapies for treating cancer.
Researchers from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons have in their study published in the journals Cancer Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), discussed the development of a “terminator” virus, that can effectively treat cancerous cells.
Researchers said that experiments conducted on mice, ailing from pancreatic cancers at both primary and distant sites (much like metabases), revealed that upon administering them with the “terminator” virus, primary as well as distant tumours were destroyed.
Researchers said that the infection caused by the virus killed the primary tumour, adding that a second weapon added to the virus killed the metabases also.
Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., professor of clinical pathology and the Michael and Stella Chernow Urological Cancer Research Scientist at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who submitted the papers said that the terminator viruses were also found to selectively replicate and kill breast cancer cells in mice.
“We are extremely excited about these results and the prospect of one day using a form of the cancer terminator virus in human clinical trials. While the results of these trials need to be investigated further and replicated in future trials, we believe that viral-based therapies will someday soon be a standard part of the cancer armamentarium,” said Dr Fisher.
Researchers further said that the “terminator” viruses had the potential to become effective treatments for a wide range of tumours - such as ovarian, pancreatic, breast, brain (glioma), prostate, skin (melanoma) and colon cancer, as they were constructed to effectively counter a lot of characteristics of all solid cancers.
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