Jul 12, 2019
A Common Cold Virus Wiped Away Bladder Cancer in One Patient
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health
A simple cold virus could wipe out tumors in a form of bladder cancer, a small new study suggests.
Though the idea of using viruses to fight cancer isn’t new, this is the first time a cold virus effectively treated an early-stage form of bladder cancer. In one patient, it eliminated a cancerous tumor, the group reported July 4 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
A group of researchers conducted an early-stage clinical trial in which they infected 15 bladder cancer patients with coxsackievirus A21, which is one of the viruses that cause the common cold. Coxsackievirus is not a genetically modified virus; it’s “something that occurs in nature,” said senior author Hardev Pandha, a professor of medical oncology at the University of Surrey in England. [Exercise May Reduce the Risk of These 13 Cancers].