Viruses could destroy cancer cells
Researchers at St Louis University in the US are destroying tumours with genetically engineered viruses that infect cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
Researchers at St Louis University in the US are destroying tumours with genetically engineered viruses that infect cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
Results published in the journal Cancer Research have claimed cancer cells are destroyed when the viruses reproduce themselves.
One virus called INGN 009, for instance, killed colon cancer cells grown in a laboratory dish, but did not destroy lung cancer cells or healthy tissue. Another virus called INGN 007 killed both lung and colon cancer cells in the laboratory. Both viruses suppressed tumour growth significantly in animals with colon cancer, whilst INGN 007 completely halted tumour growth in an animal with lung cancer.
'These engineered viruses kill cancer cells through a mechanism that is completely different from chemotherapy or radiation,' and that is potentially much safer, William Wold of the university's school of medicine told the Los Angeles Times. For years Wold's team has been developing adenoviruses - viruses similar to those that cause the common cold - capable of infecting only cancer cells.