Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Grant McFadden has spent over two decades studying the myxoma virus.
The ASU virologist grew interested in the myxoma virus because it is extremely deadly in European rabbits but virtually harmless in non-rabbit hosts — including humans. He wanted to figure out why.
So, he began testing its ability to infect lab-grown cells.
Along the way, he made a startling discovery.
"We accidentally stumbled upon the fact that if we take this virus and put it onto cancer cells … the virus treated them just like rabbit cells, it infected them, killed them, in a way that was really quite dramatic," McFadden said.
With those results, the idea to use the virus as a cancer treatment was born.
Two and a half years until the first human trials but that is pretty damn exciting.
The ASU virologist grew interested in the myxoma virus because it is extremely deadly in European rabbits but virtually harmless in non-rabbit hosts — including humans. He wanted to figure out why.
So, he began testing its ability to infect lab-grown cells.
Along the way, he made a startling discovery.
"We accidentally stumbled upon the fact that if we take this virus and put it onto cancer cells … the virus treated them just like rabbit cells, it infected them, killed them, in a way that was really quite dramatic," McFadden said.
With those results, the idea to use the virus as a cancer treatment was born.
An ASU researcher is working on a virus that's harmless to humans, but kills cancer cells
When ASU researcher Grant McFadden injected this virus into mice with brain cancer, 100% of the mice were cured.
www.azcentral.com
Two and a half years until the first human trials but that is pretty damn exciting.