Fast-Acting Virus Successfully Targets Melanoma Tumors

Yale researchers have discovered a successful technique to eradicate melanoma tumors just by exposing them to a fast acting virus,.

One of the most deadliest type of skin cancer is Melanoma. According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States in 2009 nearly 61,646 people were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin and 9,199 people died from it. The incidence was higher among females than males. Deaths caused by melanoma accounted for $3.5 billion in lost productivity each year.

"After injection into the blood stream of mice, the virus finds melanoma on its own, and is fast and aggressive with tumors," Anthony N. van den Pol, professor of neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine, investigator for the Yale Cancer Center and senior author of the study, said in a press release. "Because the virus replicates rapidly, it can kill the melanoma before the immune system responds and kills the virus."

According to the researchers, when the virus is being eliminated, even the immune system may start targeting and damaging tumor cells.

In this study the researchers used the vesicular stomatitius virus. This virus belongs to the rabies causing virus family and also triggers flu-like symptoms in humans. They noticed that this fast acting virus avoids the healthy melanocytes and targets the melanoma tumors. In 70 percent of the tumors tested, melanoma was wiped away completely and the remaining displayed a more partial reaction to the virus.

This study that was reported in the 15 June edition of the Journal of Virology and was funded by  the National Institutes of Health.