By mygoditsfullofstars on August 6th, 2010

Herpes Virus Successfully Used to Fight Cancer

This is very interesting, and actually makes a lot of sense.

This one of those stories that will make you do a double take. Scientists and doctors are using a herpes virus to treat cancer cells and they are having very good success with it.

In a new study, doctors have taken a genetically engineered herpes virus and injected it into certain types of cancer cells. When the virus is introduced to the cancer cells, the virus kills the cancerous cells, while simultaneously boosting the immune system. The best part? The herpes virus is contained in the cancerous tumor, and when the tumor has shrunk, doctors can remove it.

So far, this treatment has been successful on different head and neck cancers. The drawbacks? Well there are a few. Doctors say that they still need to use chemotherapy, as well as this treatment method. Doctors also say that it is important to catch the cancer in the early stages, for this to work correctly.

In this study, 17 patients were treated with the herpes virus, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 93% of the patients showed no cancer in their bodies after this procedure (including removal of the tumor). At the two year mark, 82% of patients from this study were still cancer free. Only 2 out of the original 17 patients relapsed. More trials are planned for this year.