SKorean scientists say cancer-killing virus developed

[Gan]

South Korean scientists (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22South+Korean+scientists%22&sid=breitbart.com) have said they have developed a new genetically altered strain of virus which is highly efficient in targeting and killing cancer cells (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22cancer+cells%22&sid=breitbart.com).

The new therapy developed by the team from Yonsei University (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22Yonsei+University%22&sid=breitbart.com) uses a genetically-engineered form of the adenovirus, which normally causes colds.

The adenovirus was implanted with a human gene (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22human+gene%22&sid=breitbart.com) that is related to the production of relaxin, a hormone associated with pregnancy.


When injected into cancerous tumors, the virus quickly multiplies in the cancer cells and kills them, the team said.


The new adenovirus can target only cancer cells and does not harm normal cells, the team said.


Existing viral treatments fail to kill off all the cancerous cells.


"I believe we have found a way to overcome one of the great obstacles to finding a genetically altered viral cure for cancer," Yun Chae-Ok, one of the researchers, told AFP on Thursday.


Following three rounds of injections, more than 90 percent of cancer cells in the brains, liver, lungs and womb of mice disappeared within 60 days, the team said.


Clinical tests (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22Clinical+tests%22&sid=breitbart.com) will be carried out early next year and last 18 months, Yun said.


The research results were published in the October 18 edition of the prestigious bimonthly Journal of the National Cancer Institute (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=%22National+Cancer+Institute%22&sid=breitbart.com) in the United States.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/19/061019102114.ms2asupj.html

[crazymage]

Shit like this scares me, cure cancer but what does the cure evolve into? OOO FREAKY.

[Latrinsorm]

a) We better hope God isn't a mouse.
b) I thought what made treating cancer so difficult was the similarity between cancer cells and regular cells (besides rapid growth), so my question to these scientists is "how?". And I suppose I'll look it up once I'm done with midterms.

[Stanley Burrell]

I would think it has to target a surface receptor on the lipid bilayer since they aren't using a lysogenic virus. I am going to take a wild stab at things and say FAS95 or an extremely adhesive glycoprotein utilized in antigen presentation, maybe something in a lysosome cascade.

What I doubt they did with their chimera was have it target anything in the cytoplasm (i.e. non-sticky p53 dimer detection or any of its inherent amplification cascades [anomollies with bid/bax/apopotosome formation/etc.])

When injected into cancerous tumors, the virus quickly multiplies in the cancer cells and kills them, the team said.

Something tells me the treatment wasn't meant to be used systemically either (encapsulated malignancies, maybe.)

[Doyle Hargraves]

This thread calls for some Jenovadeath overusage of extremely long medical term spam.

[Apathy]

Reverse-darwinism?

[Makkah]

[see monoclonal antibodies that target cancer cell receptors]

[Stanley Burrell]

[see monoclonal antibodies that target cancer cell receptors]

That particular article says "new therapy" although it may just be a hapless ploy to get webhits :-\

[Gan]

Damn those South Koreans!

Dont they know they would have been better off, like their North Korean brethren if the US would have kept its nose out of their business!!!

(oh wait, thats a political statement) :spaz: