Have You Had Your Cancer Shot? You Know That Virus That Fights Cancer?.. Wait.. What?

Viruses are the bad guys, how we all hate viruses, and our hatred for them has grown over the past two years. I wish viruses could just disappear, but wait, not so fast.

What if we could use these evil little microbes to assist us in our fight against another deadly evil?

We all hate the many things, like microbes and germs that attack our bodies and cause us suffering, and some things we love cause pain and suffering too, think about sugar, certain fats, etc.

Viruses and bacteria are two little ‘friends’ we can do without, however let me just say in defence of bacteria, at least there are good bacteria, I am yet to find a good virus.

Or so I thought.

Great coaches take a less than average team metaphorically called a ‘bag of lemons’, and the best coach ‘makes lemonade,’ as the saying goes. The best coaches make something tasty and add value to the team, no matter the raw material they give them to work with.

Is there a bigger bag of lemons than viruses? Could we find a positive use for viruses? These little infectious terrors that cause us so much illness and anguish, could we actually use them to accomplish something good? Turns out that we can.

Let's first do a quick topline explanation of how viruses work? Well, we know they enter our cells and use the machinery within our healthy cells to replicate themselves, and this is how they invade and take over healthy cells, they use the cell’s machinery against itself and against the host’s body.

These little evil-doers are so insidious that they have even linked certain viruses to cancers. For instance, they have linked the virus that causes Hepatitis B to liver cancer.

Now some brilliant medical scientists have asked. If viruses can cause cancer, perhaps they can cure cancer too?

A new cancer therapy using what is called oncolytic viruses, where cancer patients literally get vaccinated with a modified virus which is tailor made to the patient's DNA, is on trial.

Imagine using a virus as a carrier for weaponry to blast away the evils of cancer, like a stealth missile, entering our cells and destroying the bad guys?

Cancer tumour cells are often susceptible to viral invasion because they have depleted viral defences. Modified viral cells can then deliver therapeutic simulants that are targeted to tumour cells. These therapeutic stimulants will then stimulate the anti cancer response (antigens), which then also seek and destroy cancerous tumour cells, nearby and also in other areas of the body.

There has already been one such therapy approved by the FDA to fight melanoma. The amazing thing is that the development of DNA specific vaccines is changing the game in medical science.

There is a patient who has undergone traditional cancer treatments who has now had his DNA mapped and the oncolytic viral therapy tailor-made to his DNA.

How does it work?

The viruses carry transgenes and deliver these into the tumour cells and the cancer sites within the body and they cause mayhem within the cancer cells.

They cause tumour cell death through various mechanisms which work exterior to the tumour cells in the environment surrounding them, and then by penetrating the tumour cells they destroy the interior of the tumour cells.

They have changed these oncolytic viruses to only attack the cancer cells. Targeted and armed viruses, specifically coded to DNA of the patient, hold a lot of hope for the future of immunotherapy and these are some viruses that I am extremely positive about.

These viral cells stimulate our immune systems to fight off the cancer, by stimulating communication between the many types of immune cells within our immune systems. They summon the troops and call them into action.

They fight the enemy forces (cancerous tumours) and sustain and increase our body defences. These viral weaponised type ‘drones’ enter cells and destroy the enemy forces, while increasing the communication and search and destroy tactics for our body's defences. Micro - biology and medical science sound more and more like an epic intergalactic battle.

Perhaps one day we will have tiny cameras that will allow us to watch the ‘micro -war’ in real time, so we can watch our body forces fight off the enemy. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts?

References:

Clatterbridge NHS — https://www.clatterbridgecc.nhs.uk/news/first-patient-given-vaccine-cancer-pioneering-clinical-research

Transgene France — https://www.transgene.fr/en/about

Oncolytic virotherapy and tumour microenvironmrent; Adv Exp Med Biol; 2017;1036:157–172, Sarah E. Berkey, Steve H. Thorne, David L. Bartlett

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29275471/#affiliation-1