A strain of the common cold virus has the ability to target, infect and destroy cancer cells in patients with bladder cancer.
This is a discovery that could revolutionize the treatment of bladder cancer.
In an article published in the medical journal Clinical Cancer Research Reports, researchers from the University of Surrey and Royal Surrey County Hospital reveal that exposure to coxsackievirus oncolytic virus (CVA21), a natural strain of the common cold, was able to target, infect and destroy cancer cells in patients with non-invasive bladder cancer. Tested on 15 patients, this strain of the cold virus proved to be very effective, since no trace of cancer was found in the patients after treatment.
Current treatments that are not very effective
The seventh most common cancer in France, bladder cancer affects approximately 12,000 people each year in France, mostly men. This type of cancer affects the cells of the inner wall of the bladder: it develops from a normal cell which transforms, then multiplies in an anarchic way, until it forms a tumour.
In 90% of cases, bladder cancer forms from the cells of the mucous membrane (urothelial epithelium). It is a non-invasive form of cancer, which then takes the name of urothelial carcinoma. Existing treatments are far from 100% effective.
Thus, transurethral resection of the bladder (TURB), which consists of removing visible lesions by passing through the urethra, has a tumor recurrence rate ranging from 50% to 70%. As for immunotherapy with Bacille Calmette-Guérin, a common bacterium-based treatment, it was found to have serious side effects for a third of patients with bladder cancer, while another third did not. not respond at all.
Towards the end of chemotherapy?
This pioneering treatment is therefore promising. It was tested on fifteen patients who, one week before the scheduled surgery to remove their tumours, all received a stroke21 by means of a catheter in the bladder. Examination of tissue samples after surgery are very encouraging. They show that the virus only targeted cancer cells and left all other cells intact. The researchers found that the virus had infected cancer cells and replicated, causing them to be destroyed.
After virus treatment, cell death was identified in the majority of patient tumors. In one patient, no trace of the cancer was even detected during surgery. “Coxsackievirus could help revolutionize the treatment of this type of cancer,” said Hardev Pandha, lead researcher of the study and professor of medical oncology at the University of Surrey, who said no side effects were identified. in patients.
“Viruses have traditionally been associated with disease, but they can also improve our health and well-being by destroying cancer cells,” University of Surrey researcher Dr Nicola Annels said. “Oncolytic viruses like coxsackievirus could transform the way we treat cancer and signal the abandonment of more established treatments like chemotherapy.”
.
