Polio viruses are supposed to help against cancer

Polio viruses can possibly cure cancer

04/04/2015

American researchers have developed a new method to destroy cancerous tumors from within. It uses genetically modified polio viruses. Initial tests on patients in the US have already been successful.

Cancer therapies with serious side effects
According to surveys, about two-thirds of Germans fear that they have cancer. In other countries, the numbers should look similar. But it's not just the fear of the potentially fatal course, but also the side effects of radiation and chemo that make people sick. Such treatments may possibly become unnecessary in the future. For years, researchers worldwide have been researching alternatives to previous cancer therapies. Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina have now found promising results in an investigation. In the study, they used 22 cancer patients to inject modified polio viruses into aggressive brain tumors for the first time in order to trigger a targeted immune reaction in the body.

Study participants lived longer after treatment
The study participants who were in the final stage of the disease actually lived longer after the treatment than previously predicted by the doctors. As the scientists reported, however, eleven of the subjects died, while the disease continued to improve in the other Elf. Two of the patients were reported to be completely cured of the cancer by the therapy, reported „cbsnews“. The researchers also reported that none of the participants in the study showed symptoms of polio (poliomyelitis). The poliovirus-induced infectious disease poliomyelitis affects the muscle-controlling nerve cells of the spinal cord and can lead to permanent paralysis or even death.

Cancer cells completely disappeared 21 months after treatment
On „cbsnews“ is also the success of Stephanie Lipscomb documented in the doctors discovered in 2011 at the age of 20 years a tennis ball-sized tumor behind the left eye. At first chemo and radiation helped, but after one year the tumor returned. In 2012, doctors injected her with the modified polio virus directly into the brain as part of the new study. Through the procedure, which was previously tested on any human, the physicians hoped to be able to extend at least the life of the young woman a bit. But it got much better: The tumor contracted and almost 21 months after treatment, the cancer cells were completely gone. To this day, the woman is considered cured. Like Dr. Henry Friedman said in an interview with the news side, this is possible because „the modified polio virus can no longer reproduce in normal cells. But in cancer cells already and during this process, it releases toxins that poison the cell.“

Further studies will follow
Now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that the new method will be ready in one year „Breakthrough status“ could receive. These are therapies that are likely to dramatically improve life-threatening illnesses over current treatments. Therefore, such agents also undergo a shortened approval process. The scientists at Duke University said that more studies are now underway. Thus, the modified polio viruses are to be tested in the future for other cancers, such as breast, prostate, lung, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer. In recent years, great progress has been made in cancer research in general. For example, two US researchers recently received the Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter awards. The two pioneers of immunotherapy against cancer have opened a new chapter in medicine with their development, it was said. Every year, around one million people in Germany receive the diagnosis of cancer. So far, the episode was usually surgery, radiation and / or chemo. Perhaps this could change in the future thanks to new findings. (Ad)