Researchers have indicated it will now be possible to use Zika virus to treat brain cancer. The new research will use the virus to kill the cancerous brain cells.
Scientists are working on new ways they can tweak the Zika virus to help in fighting brain cancer. The Zika virus is known for its link to brain damage in newborn babies when infected. The virus which is spread by mosquitoes will be modified to infect only brain cancer cells, which will help destroy.
Using Zika virus to treat brain cancer
Brain cancer, glioblastoma, is very aggressive and defies the standard cancer treatment. If infected, patients survive for only 20 months or less. In cases where cancer has been forced to remissions, the patients can live for a maximum of 12 months.
senior author Dr. Jeremy Rich, director of neuro-oncology and the Brain Tumor Institute at UC San Diego Health said in a statement,
While we would likely need to modify the normal Zika virus to make it safer to treat brain tumors, we may also be able to take advantage of the mechanisms the virus uses to destroy cells to improve the way we treat glioblastoma.
The scientists were able to determine that it is an integrin called αvβ5 that lets the virus penetrate brain cells. However, blocking the integrin prevented the virus from infecting brain cancer cells and normal stem cells.
The study showed that the αvβ5 consists of two parts, the αv and β5. Αv is found in abundance on the brain stem cells, which explains why the virus targets both the healthy and cancerous brain stem cells. Β5, however, was only found on cancerous cells and made the cells more aggressive.
This made the cancerous cells more vulnerable to Zika infection than other normal cells. Scientists will tweak the Zika virus to only target cancerous cells by targeting β5. This will kill these cancerous cells and also prevents other brain cells from contracting the virus.
The researchers are optimistic that this will pave the way for a working treatment of glioblastoma. Other viruses are also being considered for glioblastoma treatment such as a genetically modified poliovirus.
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