<p>Scientists have created artificial 'designer' viruses that can target cancer by alerting the body's immune system and sending killer cells to fight tumours.<br /><br />The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may pave the way for novel cancer treatments.</p>.<p>Most cancer cells only provoke a limited reaction by the immune system - the body's defence mechanism - and can thus grow without appreciable resistance.<br /><br />By contrast, viral infections cause the body to release alarm signals, stimulating the immune system to use all available means to fight the invader.<br /><br />Immunotherapies, used to treat cancer for many years, "disinhibit" the body's defence system and thus strengthen its half-hearted fight against cancer cells.<br /><br />Stimulating the immune system to specifically and wholeheartedly combat cancer cells, however, has remained elusive.<br /><br />Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University of Basel in Switzerland have now succeeded in manufacturing innovative designer viruses for that purpose.<br /><br />They built artificial viruses based on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which can infect both rodents and humans.<br /><br />Although they were not harmful for mice, they release the alarm signals typical of viral infections.<br /><br />The researchers also integrated certain proteins into the virus that are otherwise found only in cancer cells.<br /><br />Infection with the designer virus enabled the immune system to recognise these cancer proteins as dangerous.<br /><br />The unique combination of alarm signals and the cancer cell protein stimulated the immune system to create a powerful army of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, also known as killer cells, which identified the cancer cells through their protein and successfully destroyed them.<br /><br />The treatments available to cancer patients have developed enormously in the last few years.<br /><br /> However, as the researchers report, current treatments are still inadequate in combating many forms of cancer.<br />"We hope that our new findings and technologies will soon be used in cancer treatments and so help to further increase their success rates," said Doron Merkler from UNIGE.</p>
<p>Scientists have created artificial 'designer' viruses that can target cancer by alerting the body's immune system and sending killer cells to fight tumours.<br /><br />The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may pave the way for novel cancer treatments.</p>.<p>Most cancer cells only provoke a limited reaction by the immune system - the body's defence mechanism - and can thus grow without appreciable resistance.<br /><br />By contrast, viral infections cause the body to release alarm signals, stimulating the immune system to use all available means to fight the invader.<br /><br />Immunotherapies, used to treat cancer for many years, "disinhibit" the body's defence system and thus strengthen its half-hearted fight against cancer cells.<br /><br />Stimulating the immune system to specifically and wholeheartedly combat cancer cells, however, has remained elusive.<br /><br />Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University of Basel in Switzerland have now succeeded in manufacturing innovative designer viruses for that purpose.<br /><br />They built artificial viruses based on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which can infect both rodents and humans.<br /><br />Although they were not harmful for mice, they release the alarm signals typical of viral infections.<br /><br />The researchers also integrated certain proteins into the virus that are otherwise found only in cancer cells.<br /><br />Infection with the designer virus enabled the immune system to recognise these cancer proteins as dangerous.<br /><br />The unique combination of alarm signals and the cancer cell protein stimulated the immune system to create a powerful army of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, also known as killer cells, which identified the cancer cells through their protein and successfully destroyed them.<br /><br />The treatments available to cancer patients have developed enormously in the last few years.<br /><br /> However, as the researchers report, current treatments are still inadequate in combating many forms of cancer.<br />"We hope that our new findings and technologies will soon be used in cancer treatments and so help to further increase their success rates," said Doron Merkler from UNIGE.</p>