In a radical new approach to attacking cancer, researchers will soon attempt to kill tumors by infecting them with viruses that cause ailments like the common cold. This virus therapy treatment -- considered the third pillar alongside chemotherapy and radiation -- could one day become standard battle against cancer.
One Belfast doctor says anything that could improve the lives of cancer patients is worth a try. And try is exactly what Leonard Seymour, Professor of Gene Therapy at Oxford University, plans to do when he begins leading trials later this year.
Seymour, who has been working with viruses that kill cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue, will use a stealth virus masked from the body's immune system with a polymer coat that could travel through the bloodstream and reach tumors.
Two viruses are likely candidates for study in the first clinical trials -- adenovirus, cause of a cold-like virus, and vaccinia, cause of cowpox and a component in the smallpox vaccine.
Preliminary research on mice shows that virus therapy works well on tumors resistant to standard cancer drugs. But several years of trials will be necessary before the therapy can be considered for use on all cancers.
