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British scientists have developed a genetically modified virus that kills cancer cells and destroys their hiding places.
It targets both cancer cells and healthy cells that help protect cancer from the immune system.
The role of fibroblasts is to maintain different types of organs together, but they can be hijacked by cancer cells to become cancer-associated fibroblasts or CAFs.
These are then known to help tumors grow, spread and escape therapy.
The virus, developed by scientists from Oxford University, attacks carcinomas, which are the most common type of cancer. The results were published in Cancer Research.
Currently, any therapy that kills "trapped" fibroblasts can also kill fibroblasts throughout the body – for example, bone marrow and skin toxicity.
The researchers used a virus called Enadenotucirev, which is already in clinical trials to treat carcinomas.
It was designed to infect only cancer cells, leaving healthy cells alone.
Prof. Kerry Fisher, also of the Department of Oncology and Head of Research, said, "Even when most carcinoma cancer cells are destroyed, fibroblasts can protect residual cancer cells and help them. to regenerate and prosper.
"Until now, there was no way to kill the cancer cells and the fibroblasts that protected them at the same time, without harming the rest of the body."
"Our new technique to simultaneously target fibroblasts while killing cancer cells with the virus could be an important step in reducing the suppression of the immune system in carcinomas and should restart the normal immune process."
It has been tested on human cancer samples and in mice.
The virus could be tested in humans with carcinomas as early as next year.
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