The cold virus will cure cancer
Researchers from the University of Surrey and the Royal Surrey County Hospital in the UK studied the safety and tolerability of exposure to oncolytic ("cancer-killing") Coxsackie virus (CVA21) in fifteen patients with bladder cancer without invasion of the muscle layer. This tumor is the tenth most common in the UK, it is diagnosed in 10,000 people every year.
It is quite problematic to treat urinary cancer with modern methods: transurethral resection – an operation to remove all visible foci – is associated with a high frequency of relapses (50-70%) and tumor progression (10-20%) for 2-5 years. Another treatment method is immunotherapy using the live bacterium Bacille Calmette–Guerin, it is associated with serious side effects in one third of patients, while the other third does not respond to treatment at all.
In this study, 15 patients with bladder cancer received CVA21 via a urethral catheter a week before the scheduled surgery to remove tumors. Analysis of tissue samples after surgery showed that the virus targeted only cancer cells, leaving all other cells intact. It was found that the virus penetrated into cancer cells and multiplied in them, causing rupture of the membrane and death. Urine samples taken from patients on different days showed the presence of the virus, indicating that after the death of infected cancer cells, the virus continued to search for and attack the remaining cancer cells in the organ.
Usually there are no immune cells in a bladder tumor (so-called "cold" tumors). This does not allow the patient's immune system to eliminate atypical cells as they appear. The data obtained indicate that CVA21 provokes inflammation, as a result of which immune cells rush into the tumor and destroy cancer cells. Tumors that become "hot" in this way are more likely to be eliminated by the immune system.
After surgical treatment, the death of viral cells was detected in the tumors of most patients. No traces of cancer were found in one patient during the operation. It is noteworthy that no significant side effects were observed in any patient.
Traditionally, viruses are associated with diseases, but in the right situation they can improve health by destroying cancer cells. Oncolytic viruses will help change cancer treatments and move away from traumatic treatments such as chemotherapy.
Article by N. E. Annels et al. Viral targeting of non-muscle invasive blader cancer and priming of anti-tumour immunity following intravesical Coxsackievirus A21 is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Surrey: Strain of common cold virus could revolutionize treatment of bladder cancer.