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As some people
may know skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Skin
cancer is divided into two types, non-melanoma and melanoma categories. Around
two million new cases are diagnosed each year, about 5 percent of these cases
are melanoma skin cancer, which is more serious and cause about 75% of skin
cancer deaths. But researcher from the Yale University School of Medicine have
demonstrated that vesicular
stomatitis virus (VSV) can actually find, infect, and kill human melanoma
cells, without infecting the non-cancerous cells in animal test subjects. The
study was done on a mouse, which was implanted with deadly human melanomas. The
virus was able to selectively infect the cancer causing cells, and showed
little to no infectivity toward the normal healthy cells. The hypothesis is
that most normal cells resist viral infections by activating the antiviral process
that protects nearby cells, but cancerous cells show a deficient ability to
withstand virus infection. Which is why maybe fast acting virus like the VSV
would be able to infect and kill cancer cells. “If it works as well in humans,
this could confer a substantial benefit on patients afflicted with this deadly
disease,” says Anthony van den Pol, a researcher on the study. This could lead
to further advancements in the study of not only just skin cancer but also
other more sever forms of cancer, and also the development of new treatments. Since
melanoma is the most deadly skin cancer and is incurable once
they have metastasized into the body it is important to explore ways to combat
and prevent it.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423135710.htm
Wow, this article you read sounds really cool and presents viruses in a better light. Most people (including myself) think or viruses as disease-causing parasites. It would be a great breakthrough in the medical industry if the use of VSV can be implemented on humans to treat skin cancer. According to the article you read, two million people are diagnosed each year with skin cancer, that means that if VSV can be used on humans, it'll help millions of people! Since, this was tested on mice and managed to slightly infect their healthy cells means a lot more work needs to be done before It can be tested on humans.
ReplyDeleteI always sort of thought as viruses as bad microorganisms. What a great accomplishment in mankind if we made this cure happen would it be. Like you said in your article it would be nice to see this go further than just skin cancer. Crazy how they test everything on mice. Did you know there is actual people who get paid to get this stuff tested on them? They must sign a contract and stuff like that about not suing the company before though. Would you allow yourself to get tested on if you had this form of cancer?
ReplyDeleteWow!!! This makes me really excited to know we are close to possibly curing one of the many cancers. Who knows maybe this will open the door to finding cures for the other cancers. Like you said 2 million cases of this are reported yearly and this will help save millions; millions of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, granddads, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters would be saved and live for years with their families. This just makes me so excited; there are so many possibilities for this VSV to be used. I really hope they also test this virus on other types of cancers; because who knows maybe it will treat certain types of cancers and help eliminate the fear of getting cancer for a lot of people especially the people in future generations. I would like if you put another article about this and if it is being used to treat other types of cancers.
ReplyDeleteMan, any time someone mentions a cure for cancer it is a buzz in the science community, this is mainly due to two factors; one being the amount of people infected with cancer, and two being that all humans will eventually develop cancer whether it happens in 5 years or 100. Viruses even today can be used for hundreds of things, microorganisms threw-out our history have been used for our benefits. So why not use them to answer the most important question to sum. Can there be a cure for cancer?
ReplyDeleteTwo million cases a year?! Whoa, that's intense. I've known a few people who have been diagnosed with skin cancer, non melanoma, and melanoma, so I find it amazing that melanoma cells can be killed. Its miraculous, and to think that more and more cancers have a way of being slightly to fully cured. So many possibilities for VSV to be used, and its really awesome.. I wonder if there will ever be a full cure for cancerous cells.
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