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sydney morning herald

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    Another article appeared in today's Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald online version on Viralytics.

    Nothing new in the article, but every bit of publicity helps I suppose.

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cold-virus-hits-cancer-cells-for-six/2007/05/19/1179497346440.html

    Cold virus hits cancer cells for six

    AUSTRALIAN researchers have found that a common cold virus can kill cancer cells in a test tube and in mice.

    Now the treatment will be tested on humans.

    The coxsackie virus, which can cause colds in healthy people, has shown it can infect and fight certain cancer cells, in particular melanoma, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

    The clinical trials will be funded by publicly listed anti-cancer biotechnology company, Viralytics.

    Company board member and University of Newcastle Associate Professor Darren Shafren said the virus attacked particular cancer cells but largely left normal cells alone.

    "One of the nice things about these viruses is they're quite aggressive. They can actually kill cancer cells in a test tube within six to 12 hours of coming into contact with the virus," he said.

    "[The cancer cell] is a bit like a balloon. It swells up until there's so much virus inside it, it just bursts and then the virus that bursts out is free to start again in an adjacent type of cancer cell. It totally destroys the cancer cell."

    Viralytics has completed one human clinical trial which involved injecting three late-stage melanoma patients, who had failed or refused conventional treatments, with a small dose of the virus.

    Associate Professor Shafren said the trial was mainly to test the safety of the virus, not to monitor whether it reduced the cancer.

    "We don't want to get people's hopes up but basically we found that these three patients tolerated the treatment quite well," he said. "We didn't get any serious adverse affects from the singular injection which we saw as quite a conservative dose."

    In the next two trials due to start soon in separate major Australian teaching hospitals, the dosage will be upped. In one trial, nine late-stage melanoma patients will have the virus injected into the tumour.

    The second trial will have 26 patients with cancers including melanoma, breast cancer and prostate cancer, having the virus delivered intravenously.

    Associate Professor Shafren said the key to the treatment would be finding the right delivery method.

    Patients will be monitored for a significant period of time to see if the virus reduces the spread of the cancer.

    "We're still looking for some signs of proof that we're actually killing cancer cells," Associate Professor Shafren said. "What we're hoping with this therapy is that you can actually kill cancer cells outside of the site of injection."

    Associate Professor Shafren said while the treatment had worked successfully in mice "a lot of things that work in mice don't translate into any clinical benefit for humans".

    However, he said the concept of treating cancer with viruses was gaining momentum as a potential combination with therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation.
    Source: The Sun-Herald
 
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