Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
For year, doctors have been looking to engineer viruses into cancer-fighting machines, and one attempt with the herpes virus has shown promise in treating skin cancer, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The modified virus, known for causing cold sores in its natural state, is harmless in healthy cells. However, when the engineered virus enters cancer cells, it replicates and unleashes compounds to combat the tumor.
The new study said the technique, known as ‘T-Vec,’ could elongate the survival of certain melanoma patients by a few years. The therapy is not currently approved for use.
“There is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-Vec for cancer, because they can launch a two-pronged attack on tumors – both killing cancer cells directly and marshalling the immune system against them,” study author Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, told BBC News. “And because viral treatment can target cancer cells specifically, it tends to have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy or some of the other new immunotherapies.”
The concept of using viruses to penetrate and kill cancerous cells has been accumulating steam for some time now. This latest study is the largest-ever randomized trial of an anti-cancer virus, and it gives evidence that the concept could soon be transferred into clinical studies after decades of refinement in the lab.
Scientists now want to research which patients might take advantage of the treatment and see if it should be used together with other melanoma drugs that are already authorized. The Food and Drug Administration is said to be watching the development of this therapy closely and will soon make a final decision on T-Vec.
“Previous studies have shown T-Vec could benefit some people with advanced skin cancer, but this is the first study to prove an increase in survival,” Hayley Frend, a science information manager at Cancer Research UK who was not involved in the new study, told BBC News. “The next step will be to understand why only some patients respond to T-Vec, in order to help better identify which patients might benefit from it.”
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