Cancer Cure Possible Through Artificial Virus

Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University of Basel have recently developed an artificial virus which can help the immune system in removing cancer.

The cancer cells contain the ability to evade the immune system but because of the new study, the body’s ability to rapidly spot a virus has been capitalized.

Their research which was published in Nature Communications informed that the cancer proteins were inserted in the designed virus by the scientists so that the immune system can hunt down the cancer in the body with similar proteins.

This new research can be used to fight any form of cancer. What the scientists would need to do is just take proteins from the patients’ tumor and place it inside the virus. Then, they would have to inject the proteins in the body in order to activate a strong immune response against a particular disease, reported Telegraph.

Initially the technique being conducted on mice resulted in positive results and now scientists are eager to conduct them on humans. This new research can prove to be a foundation for innovative cancer treatments. The lead researcher Professor Daniel Pinschewer stated, “We hope that our new findings and technologies will soon be used in cancer treatments and so help to further increase their success rates.”

The artificial viruses were created based on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) which has the ability to infect rodents as well as humans.

Though being harmless, the virus can still trigger an immune response. Scientists also made use of additional proteins which are only seen in cancer cells. According to Medical Xpress, this unique combination of the cancer proteins and the virus that triggered the alarm system resulted in building up a strong army of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes which are also known as killer cells. The cells further detected the cancer cells via their protein and were able to destroy them successfully.