In the News – Viruses that Kill Cancers

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

A laboratory-grown virus that can infect humans and evade the immune system might sound like it belongs on a bioterrorist’s must-have list, but in fact it’s what some cancer researchers have been waiting for. The viruses in question, including the one used by Melcher and colleagues, are adept at killing cancer cells but leave healthy tissue alone. “Often tumors get rid of genes to become immortal, and when they do that they actually become weak when it comes to viral infection,” explained John Bell, a specialist in Cancer Therapeutics at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Canada, who was not involved in the work.

Read the rest at The Scientist — Cancer-Fighting Virus

This is a virus that can target tumors, and then destroys the cancerous cells. Amazing!

Discoveries like this article discloses are an exciting frontier in medical research and offers great promise for the future treatment of cancers that are often out of the reach of conventional therapy. As the article also points out, large trials are going to be needed and this is still early in the research.