Article: In cancer war, viruses can be good guys

Interesting article worth checking out from McClatchy Newspapers.

Viruses aren't always the bad guys. Sure, they can cause colds, measles, AIDS and other miseries. But with some tinkering, these tiny organisms may become a new and better way to treat cancer.

...researchers are working with a harmless virus that sits in the lungs and intestines of most people. It's called a "reovirus," short for respiratory enteric orphaned virus. A Canadian company, Oncolytics Biotech, fiddles with reovirus genes to produce Reolysin, a virus that attacks a wide variety of cancers.


Read the full article here.

Article: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center opens patient trial of virus that attacks brain cancer cells

LOS ANGELES (April 15, 2008) – A common, naturally occurring virus that attacks cancer cells but appears to be harmless to normal cells is being studied as a possible treatment for malignant, highly aggressive and deadly brain tumors called gliomas. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are among a few in the United States evaluating this experimental therapy.

Read more here.

For more information on the glioma study, which is offered through the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center, patients may contact Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at 1-800-CEDARS-1 or at www.csmc.edu under “Clinical Trials.”