Yale Uses Rabies-Related Virus to Target Brain Tumors
Scientists at the Yale School of Medicine have successfully used lab-created versions of a virus related to rabies to destroy human brain cancers transplanted into mice.
Statistics show more than 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with brain tumors each year and most of these patients have few effective treatment options. Many brain cancers are invasive and inoperable making the prognosis poor for patients. Some chemotherapies and radiation therapies exist, but they often leave malignant cells behind so the tumors return.
Looking for a method doctors could use to target the worst kinds of brain cancer while saving surrounding tissue, the Yale University team focused their attention on a virus normally confined to Central America called vesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV for short.
Their research revealed that three days after injecting VSV into the tails of the mice, the human tumor cells were infected and either dying or already dead. Normal brain cells were spared because healthy cells have defense mechanisms which tumors lack that protect them from VSV.
The exact mechanisms VSV uses to locate and destroy cancerous cells are not fully understood yet, but Yale’s investigation revealed it was surprisingly effective at killing some of the deadliest forms of cancer. They are optimistic the process can be adapted for other kinds of cancer as well. However, unlike typical vaccines that cause a harmless immune reaction, VSV shots do cause an active infection – a feature that could limit their use as a cancer treatment.
The researchers say more studies on the safety of this new viral approach and the technology involved are needed before clinical trials on humans can begin, but their work has already been described as potentially groundbreaking. As one expert not connected with the Yale study said,
“You are dealing with 25,000 patients each year who have no hope. Radiation prolongs life some, surgery does somewhat, and chemotherapy is not effective. Any research that takes a new tack is exciting.”
Harald Sontheimer, PhD
Neurobiologist, University of Alabama at Birmingham
If you’d like to learn more about Yale’s work with VSV, their study has been published in the February 20, 2008, issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Patients in the US interested in clinical trials testing other new brain cancer treatments can find more information at the ClinicalTrials.gov web site.
Sources: Yale Daily News and Discovery News
Related Links: Technology Review; International Brain Tumour Alliance; American Brain Tumor Association; The Brain Tumor Foundation
Related Podcast: Brain Tumors – Removing a Brain Tumor from the Medical University of South Carolina
Technorati Tags: Anthony van den Pol, PhD; metastatic carcinoma; glioma; oncology; New Haven, CT
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