Cold virus is scientists' new weapon to destroy cancer

Published on Thursday 21 May 2009 22:22

A COMMON cold virus has been harnessed for use as a cancer killer.

Scientists modified the adenovirus so that it could invade and destroy tumours without damaging healthy cells.

The virus was allowed to keep enough of its genetic "signature" to trigger an immune response, which safely eradicated it after the job was done.

Adenoviruses have been used before to tackle cancer, but in those experiments, scientists were forced to weaken the virus to prevent it from causing organ damage.

The new research showed that it was possible to "tweak" the virus so it launched a full-strength attack on cancer, while not hurting its host.

The work, reported in the journal PLoS Pathogens, was conducted on mice, whose livers were left undamaged by the virus. Lead author Professor Leonard Seymour, of Oxford University, said: "The approach we developed is easy to use and flexible. It may help in the development of future therapeutic viruses that are specific to certain disease sites."