![]() |
![]() |
A Virus shows promising result in Cancer treatment |
A virus that has been genetically engineered to home in on and destroy cancer cells has shown strong and lasting effects against tumors in patients when combined with standard chemotherapy. Twenty-five out of 30 patients with head and neck cancer saw their tumors shrink after they were treated with Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s ONYX-015 along with chemotherapy, researchers reported. Eight tumors disappeared. ONYX-015 is an adenovirus, a relative of common cold viruses, that has been genetically engineered to attack cells that lack normal p53, a gene that helps repair cancer-causing damage. This makes it technically a gene therapy drug, although unlike other gene therapy approaches, ONYX-015 does not repair or replace a faulty gene.
|


