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After millennia of moderate suffering, the cold virus gives something back to humanity. A pioneering study showed that a strain of the common cold virus could infect and kill bladder cancer cells.
Reported in the newspaper Clinical research on cancer, scientists from the University of Surrey, UK, treated 15 people with non-invasive muscle bladder cancer using a live strain of Coxsackie virus, or CVA21, which causes usually mild influenza-like symptoms. They received an infusion of the insect through a catheter before undergoing surgery to remove and examine the tumors.
During the surgery, one week after the infusion, it was evident that the virus had targeted and killed cancer cells in the bladder while leaving all other cells intact. In fact, a patient no longer had any trace of cancer.
Although small and in need of extensive research, this study suggests new treatments for non-invasive muscle bladder cancer, which can often be tricky to treat.
"Non-invasive muscle bladder cancer is a widespread disease that requires an intrusive and often lengthy treatment plan.The current treatment is inefficient and toxic for a proportion of patients and there is an urgent need for new treatments", Hardev Pandha, the principal investigator of the study and professor of medical oncology at the University of Surrey, said in a statement. declaration.
"Coxsackievirus could revolutionize the treatment of this type of cancer.A reduction in tumor burden and increased cancer cell death was observed in all patients and the removal of all traces of the disease in a patient after only one week treatment, thus demonstrating its potential effectiveness. "
"Notably, no significant side effects have been observed in any patient."
The treatment is for the virus to infect cancer cells and replicate, causing them to burst and die. The virus also helps to trigger an "immunological heat" in the affected area. Bladder tumors often do not have immune cells, which prevents the body from reporting cancer. The cold virus ignites infected tumors, causing the alarm of the patient's immune system.
A virus that infects and kills cancer cells is called an oncolytic virus. Scientists met them for the first time in the late 1800s after noticing that some cancer patients go into remission, often only temporarily, after a viral infection.
The first oncolytic virus to receive FDA the approval was a genetically modified form of a herpesvirus treat melanoma. They continue to be promising as a cancer treatment and are currently undergoing clinical studies in several cancers, including: bladder, prostate, colorectal, ovary, lung, bad, and more.
"Traditionally, viruses have been linked to the disease, but they can improve health and well-being by destroying cancer cells. Oncolytic viruses such as the Coxsackie virus may be transforming the way we treat cancer and may indicate a shift away from more traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, "concluded Dr. Nicola Annels, a university researcher at the University of Surrey.
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