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How to design a cancer-killing virus
October 26, 2007One new way to treat individuals with cancer that is being developed is the use of viruses that infect and kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. These viruses are known as virotherapeutics. In a new study, David Kirn and colleagues at Jennerex Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, have described the development of a new virotherapuetic with antitumor effects in both mice and rabbits.
After selecting a highly potent strain of poxvirus that was able to traffic to tumors when administered intravenously to mice the authors engineered the virus such that it would target only specific cancer cells - those with increased expression of a protein known as E2F and/or activation of signaling downstream of a protein known as EGFR. Further engineering to enable the virus to produce the soluble factor GM-CSF was designed to enhance the induction of anti-tumor immune responses. In addition to its antitumor effects in mice and rabbits, the virotherapeutic showed high selectivity for cancer cells in tumor-bearing rabbits and in human tissue samples, leading the authors to suggest that this virotherapeutic should be tested in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer.
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Cancer Cells Current Events and Cancer Cells News RSSTeam finds breast cancer gene linked to disease spread
A team of researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has identified a long-sought gene that is fatefully switched on in 30 to 40 percent of all breast cancer patients, spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies and eventually leading to death.
New hope for cancer comes straight from the heart
Digitalis-based drugs like digoxin have been used for centuries to treat patients with irregular heart rhythms and heart failure and are still in use today. In the Dec. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine now report that this same class of drugs may hold new promise as a treatment for cancer.
Grape-seed extract kills laboratory leukemia cells, proving value of natural compounds
An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract.
Lung cancer cells activate inflammation to induce metastasis
A research team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has identified a protein produced by cancerous lung epithelial cells that enhances metastasis by stimulating the activity of inflammatory cells.
Why prostate cancer patients fail hormone deprivation therapy
The hormone deprivation therapy that prostate cancer patients often take gives them only a temporary fix, with tumors usually regaining their hold within a couple of years.
Molecular imaging enables earlier, individualized treatment of thyroid cancer
In a study to determine the diagnostic value of molecular imaging in nodal staging of patients with thyroid cancer, researchers were able for the first time to accurately distinguish between cancerous cells in regional lymph nodes and normal residual thyroid tissue directly after surgery.
Dormant cancer cells rely on cellular self-cannibalization to survive
A single tumor-suppressing gene is a key to understanding, and perhaps killing, dormant ovarian cancer cells that persist after initial treatment only to reawaken years later, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the December Journal of Clinical Investigation.
UC Davis researchers find molecule that targets brain tumors
UC Davis Cancer Center researchers report today the discovery of a molecule that targets glioblastoma, a highly deadly form of cancer. The finding, which is published in the January 2009 issue of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, provides hope for effectively treating an incurable cancer.
Researchers create smaller, brighter probe tailored for molecular imaging and tumor targeting
Researchers have developed a new generation of microscopic particles for molecular imaging, constituting one of the first promising nanoparticle platforms that may be readily adapted for tumor targeting and treatment in the clinic.
Molecular marker identifies normal stem cells as intestinal tumor source
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have answered a central question in cancer biology: whether normal stem cells can give rise to tumors.
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