
Modified virus used to kill cancer cells - craftyguy
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-11-20-modified-virus-used-kill-cancer-cells
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thomasfedb
This is actually far cooler than the headline suggests.

There's already a fair bit of work into engineering a virus to kill cancer.
This research is about getting that virus to also induce an immune response to
kill other cells that have been recruited to support the cancer in the body.

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elocinstr8t
Does this have anything to do with genetic modification? If so, this is really
cool! But even if it's not, I hope they be successful with this because this
will definitely save a lot of lives. I just hope the modified virus won't turn
things around and make the person's condition worst.

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thomasfedb
The virus described here was first engineered by directed evolution, and then
genetically modified with additional functions. The virus doesn't attempt to
modify the genome of the human patient.

The clever trick is that these viruses are programmed to target cancer by
engineering them to not be able to survive in non-cancer cells. In the case of
ColoAd1, the virus will be destroyed by the p53 found in normal cells, but
missing from cancer cells.

Engineered viruses might also be evolved or engineered specifically with a
kill switch mechanism or be selected to be highly sensitive to a particular
antiviral medication.

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z_
This is a fantastic development in the fight against cancer and an encouraging
result, of course the question becomes how do we insure, kill switches and
all, that we’ve not designed a better “cancer.”

The current literature is bleak on the subject of controlling nature.

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elocinstr8t
I agree with this. If they succeed in this, like I said, it could potentially
save a lot of lives, especially those who have a family history with cancer.
But I also agree with what you said, I hope that this modified virus won't
kill "good cancer cells" or turn them into something way worse than existing
types of cancers.

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mabbo
A good friend of mine is just starting what looks like will be a hard and long
battle with cancer. Seeing the breakthroughs give me hope- but I also know
they may not be ready in time.

It really does feel like in 20 years, we'll have cancer knocked out. But
that's just too far away...

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mnw21cam
There are more than 100 types of cancer. Quite a lot of those types are very
well treatable now, and others are far more difficult to treat. New
discoveries like these move some more types from the "difficult" to
"treatable" list, but I suspect that the last few on the "difficult" list will
take a very long time to fully crack.

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mabbo
Many of the recent breakthroughs seem to apply quite widely. Cancer may be 100
types, but they carry similarities, namely that human cells stop following the
"multicellular organism rules" and go wild, while also tricking the rest of
the body into letting them.

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equalunique
My HS AP Bio teacher (2008) told me one of his college professors did this to
cure his wife's cancer back in the mid-2000s. While very effective, this
method depends on a customized approach unique to each patient, which is why
this isn't standard practice ten years later.

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jmickey
Sounds a lot like what people at Rigvir are doing
([https://www.rigvir.com/our-company/about-
rigvir.php](https://www.rigvir.com/our-company/about-rigvir.php))

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vectorEQ
how many hazardous variants do they produce before they find one that has some
form of use? (viruses)

I think personally people should stop inventing new guns and bombs, and try to
prevent instead of fight. but i suppose i don't have a medical degree :'D

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martin-adams
I think both are equally important in this type of scenario. It's also like
climate change. We should absolutely prevent climate change, but we shouldn't
stop relief and support for those affected by it.

The reality is, it's a hard problem to fix, so any option is better than no
option.

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mettamage
While probably true that headline feels _waaaaaayyyyyy_ to simple.

1\. There are a lot of viruses.

2\. There are a lot of different forms of cancer.

I nowhere near understanding the complexity of this (it's not my field), but
this headline just feels way to simple.

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phkahler
Finally! Someone made a relevant patentable change to a natural cancer
fighter. Now it can be brought to market!

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thomasfedb
The oncolytic virus ColoAd1 is hardly a 'natural cancer fighter' — it was very
much engineered.

