Zika virus may have the potential to treat certain types of cancer. Scientists have already confirmed their data during experiments and they showed impressive results.
This is reported by Live Science.
The results of the study were published in the medical journal Cancer Research Communications earlier this month. The scientists involved mice implanted with human neuroblastoma cells in the experiments.
How the effectiveness of the virus against cancer was established
After injection of the Zika virus, tumors in mice were almost completely destroyed, and the animals showed high survival rates.
The effectiveness of the treatment ranged from 80% to 90%, with a single injection leading to the complete disappearance of tumors without recurrence or symptoms.
Zika virus – what is it?
Why is it the Zika virus?
Zika virus slows down fetal brain growth, that develops, affects immature nerve cells. In fact, this prompted scientists to study the possibility of using the virus to fight one type of cancer – neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that develops from immature nerve cells. It is one of the most common cancers in infants. The available treatments have very limited effectiveness and, most importantly, have serious side effects on the child’s body.
Details of the study
As part of the experiment, scientists took high-risk neuroblastoma cells from patients and implanted them into mice, which developed tumors as a result of these actions. The scientists then injected the unmodified Zika virus into these tumors, and unexpectedly saw that this led to the consistent destruction of the tumors. Moreover, the effect occurred without further relapses.
Why is this good news?
As you know, most cases of diseases caused by the Zika virus are mild or asymptomatic. In addition, no serious side effects were found in the treated mice.
So, this is potentially a promising treatment for people. At the same time, the scientists emphasized that more preliminary data is needed before starting experiments with human participants.
The study also found that neuroblastomas expressing the CD24 protein were particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Zika virus, opening up the prospect of using this method in the treatment of various types of cancer.
And if the successes in the next stages of the study are confirmed, this discovery will help to create a virtually new chapter in cancer treatment.
