Man-made virus kills cancer cells

Man-made virus kills cancer cells

Virus was created by genetic engineering tested on 30 patients who were in the last stage of liver cancer significantly prolong their life, kill tumors and prevent new development, said the scientists.

The sixteen patients who were given a high dose of live virus are longer, on average by 14.1 months, compared with 6.7 months the patients was 14 which is given the lower dose.
- For the first time in the history of medicine, we have shown that genetically engineered virus may contribute to the survival of cancer patients - said study co-author David Kirn.
Four-week testing with the vaccine Peksa-century (Pexa-Vec) or JX-594, which was published in the journal "Nature Medicine" (Nature Medicine), giving hope for the treatment of patients in whom the tumor progressed.
Despite progress in the treatment of cancer diseases in the past 30 years, chemotherapy and various biological agents most solid tumors is incurable once metastasis occurs, or when the tumor has spread to other organs, according to the study authors.
They added that there was a need for more active immunotherapies.
- Peksa-Century is designed to multiply within the cells and destroy the cancer cells at the same time allowing the patient's immune system to attack cancer cells - says Kirn.
He added that after treatment the tumor shrunk and reduced blood supply to tumors, a strengthened immune system to fight the tumor.
Peksa-century has developed vaccinia virus, which is a vaccine used for decades in the treatment of measles.