As reported by www.bbc.co.uk researchers have advised that a genetically engineered version of a virus that normally causes cold sores shows real promise for treating skin cancer. The modified herpes virus is harmless to normal cells but when injected into tumours it replicates and releases substances to help fight the cancer. Trial results published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology show the therapy could lengthen survival by years – but only for some melanoma patients.
The latest study is the largest ever randomised trial of an anti-cancer virus and involved 436 patients from 64 centres in the US, the UK, Canada and South Africa who had inoperable malignant melanoma.
UK trial leader Prof Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: “There is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-Vec for cancer, because they can launch a two-pronged attack on tumours – both killing cancer cells directly and marshalling the immune system against them.
“And because viral treatment can target cancer cells specifically, it tends to have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.”
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