Potential Cancer Treatment Using 'Deadly' Viruses

The news and television group Vice reported on a method recently used in the fight against cancer. Viruses that previously took human lives have now been genetically modified to eliminate cancer cells. 'Shin Smith,' a journalist and co-founder of Vice, follows the stories of three cancer patients who have been cured of cancer using three dangerous viruses in a documentary titled 'Killing Cancer.' The report states that this is the first major step towards complete treatment and eradication of cancer. Nearly 300 types of cancer target human lives. Until now, the best treatment methods have been radiation therapy and chemotherapy to control the tumor or surgically remove it. In the three methods examined in this report, cancer cells were targeted and destroyed using viruses that cause smallpox, colds, and HIV/AIDS. Dr. 'John Bell' from the Cancer Treatment Center in Ottawa, Canada, was one of the first to implement this method. Some reports indicate that it was previously believed, albeit accidentally, that cancer might be eliminated using other dangerous viruses. According to 'Scientific American,' the first occurrence of such an event was in 1904 in Italy. A woman faced two diagnoses: a cancerous tumor in her cervix and rabies from a dog bite. After doctors injected the rabies vaccine, they found that not only had the rabies been cured, but her cancer had also disappeared. This woman did not experience any cancer cases until 1912. Following this, doctors, including 'Nicola de Paci,' began treating cancer with this method in 1910 by administering rabies vaccines to patients with cancerous tumors. This resulted in many reports of tumor shrinkage or disappearance. Dr. 'John Bell's' work in Canada is based on research that has been ongoing for over five years and was published in 2015. In this project, they managed to take the smallpox virus and genetically design it to circulate safely throughout the body after injection, eliminating any cancer cells it encounters without posing a risk to other cells. The modified smallpox virus targets a specific protein found in cancer cells. Dr. Bell tells Vice, 'Cancer does something evil and diverts the body's defense system so that it does not pay attention to it. With the modified virus we inject, the virus enters the cancerous tumor, destroys it, and simultaneously eliminates its deceptive message so that the body can continue its normal activity and come to clean up the extra and destroyed cells.' Dr. Bell states, 'This is a step forward, and we will soon witness cancer treatment.' This therapeutic method is also being pursued at two other treatment centers in the U.S. Dr. 'Stephen Russell' and his team have taken the measles virus and added a genetic factor to it for treating bone marrow cancer. In a laboratory, human cancer cells are infected with modified measles viruses. Once the virus enters the cancerous tumor, it begins to replicate. Dr. Russell says, 'At the right time, we will harvest everything and separate the viral cells from this mass. Then we inject this material into the cancerous tumors of the patients.' Bone marrow cancer acts aggressively and spreads rapidly in patients. Two patients in the Vice report have undergone all possible treatments and are ultimately chosen for this experimental therapy. Both patients are transferred to the hospital at the scheduled time, and the virus is injected into their bodies at a dose about 10 million times higher than the normal vaccine dose. According to Dr. Russell, the virus contains a gene that captures radioactive iodine in the cancerous cell where the virus has grown. As a result, when we take pictures of the cancerous cell with radioactive iodine, it becomes clear after a week of treatment that the cancer cells have been clearly attacked. In the Vice report, both patients return to the hospital eight days after treatment and undergo tests after a tough week. The most notable case of bone marrow cancer treatment using the measles virus involves a woman named 'Stacy Erholtz.' Ms. Erholtz had a cancerous mass on her skull, which was injected with the virus using this method, and her cancer was completely eradicated. In an interview with 'Myeloma Crowd,' Ms. Erholtz states that she was diagnosed with disseminated cancer in 2004 and was completely cured using this method after various treatments. Ms. Stacy tried different methods for 10 years but had no results. After the first measles virus injection, her situation changed, and within seven weeks, all cancerous tumors disappeared. According to Vice, the 'MD Anderson' center in Houston, Texas, is also using this method with the cold virus to eliminate brain tumors. At the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, a young girl named 'Emily Whitehead' was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five. Within two years, Emily's survival chance dropped from 85% to 30%. Emily's parents told Vice that they had tried all methods, and when they were told there was nothing more that could be done for their daughter, they contacted the hospital to see if there was a way to try something on her. The hospital said they were in the early stages of testing the 'T-Cell' method and would include their daughter in this trial. Dr. 'Carl June' from the Abramson Cancer Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania, who has experience working with the 'HIV' virus and cancer cells, has pursued this method to use the destructive power of HIV to eliminate cancer cells. This method is based on 'T cells,' fundamental components of the immune system. Typically, white blood cells circulate throughout the body and confront any dangerous agents they encounter. What HIV does in the body is trick the immune defense system. In this method, the HIV virus is genetically modified to recognize and attack cancer cells. Dr. Carl June explained this method to the Cancer Research Institute website. Emily's father told Shin Smith, Vice's reporter, 'The treating physician told us that we cannot promise that cancer will go away, but we can tell you that there is a possibility that she could contract 'HIV' with this treatment.' Dr. June states that the T-cell response to cancer is very heavy for the body. The first patient was treated with this experimental method in June 2010 and faced severe fever for several days. Emily also experienced a 40-degree fever during this treatment and was in a coma for nearly two weeks. Emily's father told Vice, 'Doctors told us you could call your family to come because the chance that Emily would survive until tomorrow was one in a thousand.' Dr. June tells Vice, 'We have had patients who, after 28 days of treatment, showed no signs of cancer in their bodies. When I was told the result, I said to test again to make sure. Now we know it is possible.' Emily was the fourth patient treated with this method, and after four weeks, no signs of leukemia were observed in her. According to Vice, 39 children have been treated with T-cells so far, and this treatment has been 90% successful. Currently, a foundation named 'Emily Whitehead' has been established to help families not feel alone in their battle against cancer. Emily's life, treatment method, and images are collected on the foundation's website. Carl June told Vice that during the global market crash in 2008, they faced budget cuts, and the research project could have been halted. However, with an unusual move, while this is not common, the successful result of the first treatment case was published in the New York Times, after which funding flowed toward the project. Dr. June predicted that by 2016, this method would be implemented more widely in the U.S. He even hopes that methods for treating other types of cancer will also progress.