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Poliovirus may help some patients fight a lethal form of brain cancer, scientists say.
An experimental treatment seems to have prolonged the life of a small group of patients with a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma. from Duke University, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine .
"I've been doing this for 50 years and I've never seen results like this," Dr. Darell Bigner, Preston's emeritus director Robert Tisch's Brain Tumor Center at the Duke Cancer Institute , which contributes to the development of treatment, told NPR
Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive cancerous brain tumor in adults. It's the cancer that killed Beau, the son of former vice president Joe Biden. Sen. John McCain was diagnosed with. The outlook for patients with this cancer is often gloomy.
To develop the new experimental treatment, scientists used a genetically modified version of the poliovirus because of the virus's ability to inhabit the cells of the nervous system
. genes have been removed to prevent it from causing polio, which can cause devastating paralysis, and have replaced it with a gene from a harmless common cold.
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The researchers then infused the virus handled directly into brain tumors. The modified virus retains the ability to infect and kill tumor cells in the brain, and also appears to activate the cells of the patient's immune system to fight tumors. This is especially important because patients with glioblastoma often have an immune system that malfunctions because of cancer treatments, such as radiation, reported ABC News Reported.
This treatment involved certain risks. Some patients have had side effects such as epileptic seizures, headaches, and speech problems. In some cases, there may be inflammation in the brain.
Based on clinical trial results, among 61 patients with recurrent glioblastoma who received the experimental treatment, 21 percent survive three years or more, compared with only 4 percent of those treated with chemotherapy, standard treatment. current, reported CNN.
Scientists were surprised by the results. "You simply do not see that percentage of long-term survivors with this disease," Bigner told NPR. "Those who have survived for more than two years are in remission, and we expect them to continue to be long-term survivors."
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