Rabbit killing virus eradicates human brain tumor cells
Published: November 17, 2005
Their findings are published in this month’s edition of the journal Cancer Research.
Human gliomas is a particularly lethal type of cancer.
“People with the tumor live about 12 months with the best available treatment, which is surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Virtually none of them are cured,” said Forsyth, who is a professor of oncology at the University of Calgary. [Damn the Statistics, I Have a Life to Live: Coping With a Brain Tumor My Personal Story]
Forsyth said a remarkable discovery in their research was McFadden’s key finding that cancer cells lost their ability to fight off viruses while normal cells kept their protection.
“When a cancer cell grows and proliferates like crazy it does so by sacrificing its ability to resist the virus infection,” he said.
The researchers plan to test the virus as a treatment for melanoma, a skin cancer known to spread to the lungs.
Additional tests of myxoma virus are planned using other animals.
If everything works, the researchers will put together a package on the safety of the virus for an application to allow it to be tested on people in Canada and the United States, McFadden said.
McFadden’s research is supported by the Canadian Cancer Society and Canadian Institutes of Health Research, while Forsyth’s work is supported by the cancer society, Clark H. Smith Integrative Brain Tumour Research Centre, Kid’s Cancer Care Foundation, Alberta Cancer Society and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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