Nature has all kinds of viruses whose only job in life is to attack and destroy human cells. Take Herpes, for instance. But the quality that makes viruses so unpleasant can also be a life-saver, scientists have recently discovered. They’ve genetically modified the STD so that it can target and kill skin cancer tumors.
Research has been underway for a decade. A pharmaceutical version of the Herpes virus will likely get FDA approval within a year and be available soon after, thanks to a promising clinical trial in the last phase of the drug’s development, the Washington Post reported.
In this trial, 436 skin cancer patients – specifically those with inoperable melanoma – were given either an injection of the modified virus (called T-VEC) or immunotherapy, Medical News Daily added. Researchers were pleased to see that the former slowed the progression of skin cancer in some; 16.3 percent of patients showed results within six months, while only 2.1 showed the same results with immunotherapy.
Patients whose skin cancer was advanced – stage III and early state IV melanoma – lived an average of 41 months, while those receiving the other treatment lived for 21.5 months. Three years later, some patients treated with the new therapy were still doing well; when a patient reaches that milestone, they’re considered cured.
The man who has worked to develop T-VEC, Professor Kevin Harrington, suggested that his drug could be a primary treatment for skin cancer, and wants to see how it works against other forms.
“There is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-VEC, because they can launch a two-pronged attack on tumors – both killing cells directly and marshaling the immune system against them. And … it tends to have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy or some of the other new immunotherapies.”
The way the modified Herpes virus works is fascinating, because it takes what’s so terrible about the virus and makes it a really good thing.
Most importantly, this drug is nothing like chemotheraphy, which kills any cell that’s reproducing, Time added. Viruses like herpes target specific cells, a quality this new drug harnesses, coaxing the immune system to destroy the offending cells and stop tumors from growing.
“We may normally think of viruses as the enemies of mankind, but it’s their very ability to specifically infect and kill human cells that can make them such promising cancer treatments.”
The next step is to combine T-VEC with immunotherapies and see how they work together; Harrington thinks they will harmonize very well. Trials to test it against other cancers have started already.
[Photo Courtesy Dan Kitwood/Getty Image]
Herpes As Medicine? Scientists Use STD To Treat Skin Cancer, Tackling Other Cancers Next is an article from: The Inquisitr News
0 comments :
Post a Comment