Using Immune Cells to Deliver Cancer-Killing Viruses

A successful demonstration of a novel form of immune therapy is noted in this article, and described in a recently published paper:

An experimental "Trojan-horse" cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice. [The] team hid cancer killing viruses inside the immune system in order to sneak them into a tumour. [After] chemotherapy or radiotherapy is used to treat cancer, there is damage to the tissue. This causes a surge in white blood cells, which swamp the area to help repair the damage. "We're surfing that wave to get as many white blood cells to deliver tumour-busting viruses into the heart of a tumour."

[Researchers] blood samples and extract macrophages, a part of the immune system which normally attacks foreign invaders. These are mixed with a virus which, just like HIV, avoids being attacked and instead becomes a passenger in the white blood cell. In the study, the mice were injected with the white blood cells two days after a course of chemotherapy ended. At this stage each white blood cell contained just a couple of viruses. However, once the macrophages enter the tumour the virus can replicate. After about 12 hours the white blood cells burst and eject up to 10,000 viruses each - which go on to infect, and kill, the cancerous cells.

At the end of the 40-day study, all the mice who were given the Trojan treatment were still alive and had no signs of tumours. By comparison, mice given other treatments died and their cancer had spread.



