virotherapy

[dragonstar57]

i was reading a article about killing cancer cells with viruses.

but unfortunately the article was written in October of 2004!

so I was wondering if there was any new material since 2004?

has this reached the point where they're conducting human trials yet?

Edited September 8, 2010 by cipher510
done

[jimmydasaint]

Good point. There seem to be small scale trials as the following news article indicates:

 

Doctors say they have used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer.

 

A London hospital trial of 17 patients found that use of the virus alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy helped kill the tumours in most patients.

Link

 

However, note that it is not a single 'bullet' therapy but used in combination with other cancer therapies.

 

Moreover, the relapse rate seems to be also quite low:

 

More than two years later, 82 per cent of patients had not succumbed to the disease. Only two of 13 patients given the virus treatment at a high dose relapsed, according to the study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research .

 

 

Read more: Herpes virus can be used to treat cancer - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Herpes-virus-can-be-used-to-treat-cancer/articleshow/6251636.cms#ixzz0yskV0nNr

Link

[dragonstar57]

I know someone who might benefit from this treatment and i was wondering if there are any clinical trials that they could join

[Greippi]

There are many recently published papers on the topic. As jimmy said, the most common seem to be combination therapies with herpesviruses and radiotherapy.

[jimmydasaint]

cipher510, you can contact the lead scientists directly if you like. Best wishes for the future.

Contact ICR London but ask to speak to Dr Kevin Harrington directly and ask for his advice. It is probably best not to direct any enquiries to the switchboard operator.

Edited September 10, 2010 by jimmydasaint

[dragonstar57]

is there a way that they can join without contacting the lead scientists directly?

[brentwise]

wow, never even knew this was a possibility, very interesting stuff...

 

going to read through the articles when i get time, but are these existing viruses the modify somehow to attack the cancer cells? or man-made viruses?