Armed virus shows promise as treatment for pancreatic cancer
The study, funded by the UK charity Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, investigated whether the effectiveness of the Vaccinia oncolytic virus — a virus modified to selectively infect and kill cancer cells — as a treatment for pancreatic cancer, would be improved by arming it with a gene which modulates the body’s immune system. Despite laboratory studies which show that they can both kill cancer cells and provide immunity against cancer regrowth, oncolytic viruses have not performed well in clinical trials, as the immune system naturally attacks the virus before it can be effective…