In what is being hailed a major breakthrough, scientists at Australian biotechnology company Imugene have found a way to kill all types of cancer cells, raising hopes that cancer would become a curable disease in the not-too-distant future.
A team of scientists followed the model of shrinking the tumors by building on top of a medical breakthrough.
In 1976, scientist Edward Jenner found a way to combat smallpox using the cowpox virus. Now, the scientists at Imugene have engineered a new virus, also based on the cowpox virus, which can kill cancer cell in a Petri dish.
This treatment is called CF33. They are hoping that treatment would be tested on breast cancer patients, among other cancer sufferers, next year.
Curing cancer is certainly one of the big challenges of the 21st century. The medical world’s knowledge of cancer has greatly improved in the last two decades.
While there are many successful treatments today that did not exist just a couple decades ago, the dread and fear that come with the cancer diagnoses have their roots in its killer nature.
It’s the second biggest cause of deaths in America according to the centers for diseases control and prevention. In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States.
Cancer is caused by genetic mutations that transform healthy cells into tumor cells. These mutations are often at the center of new therapies for cancer; however, they can be very different in each individual’s tumor.
Professor Yuman Fong, head of the Oncolytic viral Therapy Scientific Advisory Board at Imugene, says, “there was evidence that viruses could kill cancer from the early 1900s when people vaccinated against rabies had their cancer disappear, they went into remission.”
Main symptoms of cancer metastasis. Image:By Mikael Häggström. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2)
At the same time, there are concerns viruses could be too toxic for humans and turn deadly.
But Professor Fong further explains that, “the problem was if you made the virus toxic enough to kill cancer you were worried it would also kill man. Cowpox which proved to successfully protect people from smallpox 200 years ago is known to be harmless in humans.”
The scientists found that by mixing the cowpox with virus would not only target and kill the cancer cells in humans but improve the immune system to recognize any hiding cancer cells for their complete eradication.
During their laboratory research, the scientists designed a virus called CF33 and tested it against 60 different cancer cells in a petri dish using a panel of cancer cells called NC160 or National cancer institute 60. The virus managed to kill every cancer cell present in that petri dish.
Success with mice does not ensure the virus will be able to treat humans, but Professor Fong remains positive, as other specific viruses have been effective in fighting caner in humans. Professor Fong is currently in Australia to organize the clinical trials, which will also be run overseas.
Advances in multiple fronts are increasingly making cancer a more manageable disease. Most of these new technologies against cancer still have to prove their worth in clinical trials.
Even in the best-case scenario, it would be several years until they are available. However, we are on track to reach a future where cancer treatment is personalized and the chances of beating the disease are higher than ever.
