A fascinating concept: researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a method that uses modified viruses to destroy cancerous cells, whilst leaving healthy cells intact:
The research team modified a common virus – called an adenovirus – so that it could deliver genetic therapy to destroy tumours without poisoning the liver.
The changes enabled the virus to keeps its natural ‘infectious’ characteristics to replicate in, and kill, cancer cells in mice.
But for the first time the virus is also recognised and destroyed by healthy mouse liver cells, so it is no longer toxic.
Poachers make the best gamekeepers, no?
Fascinating post, and your last line strikes this estadounidense as a peculiarly British way of phrasing it. : )
This is the way diseases will be fought in the future, instead of the usage of the nasty chemotherapy method.
Hi, discriminative posts there 🙂 thank’s for the interesting advice
Minor nitpick – shouldn’t that be “is recognized and destroyed by white blood cells”? I’m no biologist, so maybe healthy liver cells can defend themselves too, it just looked a bit weird to me.
I thought so too at first. But it looks as though what they did was to change the virus so that it becomes harmless inside all liver cells.
this is good news, yes ?
let’s hope it can be widely applied asap.