Common virus 'kills cancer'

[Fridays Child]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/06/22/cancer.virus/index.html

~snip~

WASHINGTON -- A common virus that is harmless to people can destroy cancerous cells in the body and might be developed into a new cancer therapy, US researchers said.

The virus, called adeno-associated virus type 2, or AAV-2, infects an estimated 80 percent of the population.

"Our results suggest that adeno-associated virus type 2, which infects the majority of the population but has no known ill effects, kills multiple types of cancer cells yet has no effect on healthy cells," said Craig Meyers, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine in Pennsylvania.

"We believe that AAV-2 recognizes that the cancer cells are abnormal and destroys them. This suggests that AAV-2 has great potential to be developed as an anti-cancer agent," Meyers said in a statement.

He said at a meeting of the American Society for Virology that studies have shown women infected with AAV-2 who are also infected with a cancer-causing wart virus called HPV develop cervical cancer less frequently than uninfected women do.

More at http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/06/22/cancer.virus/index.html

[Fridays Child]

1. Okay. I know that GD moves fast...

...but somebody out there in DU-ville must be happy to read this.

:shrug:

[GiovanniC]

2. No Good News For Us, Thanks

We're having our daily angst-fest, which should be on your schedule.

[Fridays Child]

6. What can I say? I finished my angst early.

I always was a show-off. :D

[AllyCat]

3. This is terrific news!

I hope they are able to get some funding from the non-science Administration to push this forward. They are going to have to highlight something other than a women's health issue to get it through since women aren't all that important to BushCo.

But one has to admire the elegance of a virus manipulation that can be that targeted! Terrific!

[Fridays Child]

11. Funding a cancer cure? Chimpy'll have to check with his pharma friends...

...and get back to you on that.

[AllyCat]

12. I wanted to say that, but didn't...you are right though.

[phylny]

4. Amazing!

Too late to save my mother, but maybe in time enough to help my generation, and my childrens'.

[Fridays Child]

9. Exactly the same thought here.

:hi:

[Kansas Wyatt]

5. George W. Bush, 'We must err on the side of life and destroy this virus.'

[Selatius]

7. Hah, i could actually imagine him doing something so stupid

[Fridays Child]

8. Because curing disease could be fatal to the pharmaceutical industry.

Right, George?

[GiovanniC]

10. Yes, Republicans Typically Think That Alien Clusters of Cells,

Rapidly growing, are more important than the person they are growing in, even if they endanger that person's life.

So this would fit into that philosophy nicely.