linkThe natural ability of viruses to infect and destroy cells is being used by scientists to kill cancerous tumours, according to an article in the August 2005 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine of the Society for General Microbiology.

Professor Moira Brown of Southern General Hospital in Glasgow explains how viruses that cause common diseases, such as cold sores and ‘flu, have been modified so that they are no longer harmful, but can target and kill only cancerous cells.

Safety trials have been completed for some of these cancer-killing viruses and now new trials are underway to test how effective they are.

“If we can demonstrate the effectiveness of the viruses, the potential is there to transform the future for people who have cancers that are otherwise untreatable,” said Professor Brown.

LINK: "The findings, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that sulfasalazine, a drug on the market for nearly 40 years, can reduce tumor size by interfering with the cancer cell's ability to make the brain chemical glutathione. "

Without glutathione, tumor cells are more susceptible to attack by the body's natural defenses.

“Clinical trials could begin very quickly, since a clinically approved drug that can be delivered orally is already available,” said Harald [cq] Sontheimer, Ph.D. professor of neurobiology and director of the UAB Civitan International Research Center.

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