Genetically modified virus injection into tumor can treat metastatic melanoma

Source: Medical Express, February 2019

Injection of a genetically modified virus that induces the body’s own immune cells to attack metastatic melanoma effectively treated almost 40 percent of patients with tumors that could not be surgically removed, according to researchers from three prominent cancer centers in a study published as an “article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeonswebsite in advance of print publication.

“Our findings in the real world mimic what the clinical trials have found," said corresponding author David W. Ollila, MD, FACS, a general surgical oncologist, department of surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It’s a different world now in metastatic melanoma, because instead of the traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy that not only kills cancer cells but also kills normal cells, we’re stimulating the immune system to attack the cancer cells."