From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Thu May 08 2003 - 21:01:08 MDT
Obviously that wasn't meant for the list. If you read it, please poke out
your eyes!
(my credit card number isn't in there somewhere, is it?)
Emlyn
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Emlyn O'regan
> Sent: Friday, 9 May 2003 12:29 PM
> To: 'extropians@extropy.org'
> Subject: RE: MED/BIO: Get a Cold, Kill Cancer
>
>
> As far as I remember, the source is:
> <rest of stupid stuffup snipped>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Greg Burch [mailto:gregburch@gregburch.net]
> > Sent: Friday, 9 May 2003 10:34 AM
> > To: extropians@extropy.org
> > Subject: MED/BIO: Get a Cold, Kill Cancer
> >
> >
> > This seems Really Important -- is it?
> >
> > http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/1899204
> >
> > May 7, 2003, 9:36AM
> >
> > Cold virus outsmarts, destroys brain tumors
> > Genetically engineered cells target only cancers
> > M.D. Anderson plans clinical trials for next year
> > By TODD ACKERMAN
> > Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Medical Writer
> > RESOURCES
> > . Graphic: Virus kills brain tumors
> >
> > Local scientists have turned a cold virus into a kind of
> "smart bomb"
> > that may be able to destroy the deadliest form of brain cancer.
> >
> > In experiments with mice, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer
> > Center researchers are reporting that a genetically
> engineered version
> > of the common cold infected and killed malignant glioma cells that
> > resist other therapy. The virus doesn't harm normal tissue.
> >
> > "Viral therapy like this may be just what we need to treat a complex
> > disease like cancer," said Dr. Frederick Lang, a professor of
> > neurosurgery and primary investigator of the study. "Cancer can be
> > devious the way it does everything possible to avoid
> destruction, but
> > viruses are equally tricky and may be able to outsmart
> brain tumors."
> >
> > In today's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer
> Institute, M.D.
> > Anderson researchers said the therapy produced a response on
> > glioma not
> > previously seen with any other treatment. Clinical trials
> with people
> > are expected to begin late next year.
> >
> > Roughly 17,000 new cases of brain tumors are diagnosed in the United
> > States every year and half are gliomas, a primary type which
> > arises from
> > the brain itself rather than metastasizing from another location.
> > Surgery, radiation therapy, steroids and chemotherapy can prolong
> > survival, but most everyone dies within a year.
> >
> > The virus is designed in such a way that to reproduce itself, it can
> > only replicate in cancer cells, not healthy tissue. While
> reproducing,
> > it kills cancer cells, and when no more are left to infect,
> the virus
> > simply dies.
> >
> > The idea of using viruses to kill cancer cells has been
> > around since the
> > 1950s, but it is only in recent years that it is moving toward
> > application. Therapeutic viruses for lung cancer and head and neck
> > cancer are in clinical trials, said Howard Fine, director
> of the brain
> > tumor program at the National Cancer Institute.
> >
> > The NCI is providing $1 million to produce the drug-grade
> > version of the
> > therapy in its laboratories. It is scheduled to be finished
> in time to
> > start enrolling patients in a study in the winter of 2004.
> >
> > But Fine warned against expecting too much from the
> therapy. He called
> > it "a promising approach that is one of many good ideas out
> > there," but
> > said success in animal models is a long way from success in human
> > patients. He said it is unclear whether the virus will
> > replicate as well
> > in humans, where glioma cells are surrounded by normal
> cells; in mice,
> > glioma cells cluster together.
> >
> > But the results in the mice were extraordinary. The virus cured 60
> > percent of the glioma tumors implanted in mice brains whereas
> > mice given
> > a placebo died after less than three weeks. (A precursor of
> the virus
> > cured 15 percent of the tumors.)
> >
> > The mice that survived treatment with the experimental virus
> > were killed
> > for examination. Researchers found only empty cavities and
> scar tissue
> > where the tumors once were.
> >
> > "This therapy needs more study, but it has a lot of
> > potential," said Dr.
> > Juan Fueyo, a professor in M.D. Anderson's department of
> > neuro-oncology,
> > the study's lead author and the developer of the genetically
> > engineered
> > adenovirus. "We've never had this kind of result with any kind of
> > treatment on glioma -- in humans or animals."
> >
> > The virus is injected directly into the brain tumor
> > surgically, through
> > a small hole. Lang expressed hope the therapy might work even
> > better in
> > humans because delivery would be more precise.
> >
> > Researchers are studying human adenoviruses for a wide range
> > of medical
> > uses, from cancer therapy to gene therapy, because they are
> so good at
> > infecting human cells. One question is how the immune system will
> > respond -- will it overreact and cause illness or kill the virus, or
> > will it be boosted to kill the cancer or other pathogen.
> >
> > But Lang said he's optimistic the treatment will accomplish its goal
> > before the immune system goes after it.
> >
> > The research team also included scientists from the University of
> > Alabama at Birmingham and the Institut Catala d'Oncologia in
> > Barcelona,
> > Spain.
> >
> >
>
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