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cancerous cells

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British researchers have found that an experimental “Trojan-horse” cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice.

The team hid cancer killing viruses inside the immune system in order to sneak them into a tumor.

Once inside, a study in the journal Cancer Research showed, tens of thousands of viruses were released to kill the cancerous cells.

Experts labeled the study “exciting,” but human tests are still needed.

Using viruses to destroy rapidly growing tumors is an emerging field in cancer therapy, however one of the challenges is getting the viruses deep inside the tumor where they can do the damage.

“There’s a problem with getting enough virus into the tumor,” said Prof. Claire Lewis from the University of Sheffield.

She leads a team which uses white blood cells as “Trojan horses” to deliver the viral punch.

British researchers have found that an experimental Trojan-horse cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice

British researchers have found that an experimental Trojan-horse cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice

After chemotherapy or radiotherapy is used to treat cancer, there is damage to the tissue. This causes a surge in white blood cells, which swamp the area to help repair the damage.

“We’re surfing that wave to get as many white blood cells to deliver tumor-busting viruses into the heart of a tumor,” said Prof. Claire Lewis.

Her team takes blood samples and extract macrophages, a part of the immune system which normally attacks foreign invaders. These are mixed with a virus which, just like HIV, avoids being attacked and instead becomes a passenger in the white blood cell.

In the study, the mice were injected with the white blood cells two days after a course of chemotherapy ended.

At this stage each white blood cell contained just a couple of viruses. However, once the macrophages enter the tumor the virus can replicate. After about 12 hours the white blood cells burst and eject up to 10,000 viruses each – which go on to infect, and kill, the cancerous cells.

At the end of the 40-day study, all the mice who were given the Trojan treatment were still alive and had no signs of tumors.

By comparison, mice given other treatments died and their cancer had spread.

Prof. Claire Lewis said: “It completely eradicates the tumor and stops it growing back.”

She said it was a “ground-breaking” concept, but cautioned that many remarkable advances in treating mice failed to have any effect in people.

She hopes to begin human trials next year.

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Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb refused to have scans that could have detected his fatal tumours before they developed – so he could go on a world tour.

Robin Gibb died in May, aged 62, after a long battle with colon and liver cancer.

His heartbroken widow, Dwina Gibb, 59, has told how he initially ignored doctors’ advice and her pleas to have the cancerous cells properly checked.

The cancer was spotted after the star had an operation to remove an intestinal blockage in October 2010.

Robin Gibb refused to have scans that could have detected his fatal tumours before they developed, so he could go on a world tour

Robin Gibb refused to have scans that could have detected his fatal tumours before they developed, so he could go on a world tour

But Dwina Gibb said she and son Robin John, 29, were unable to stop Robin continuing with his musical commitments.

She said: “He didn’t want to stop and I said, <<Please just have the scan>>. Despite all his wonderful ways, Robin could be very stubborn and he never liked bad news – he just didn’t want to know.

“He went to do a show in New Zealand as they’d just experienced an earthquake.

“Maybe it was very important for him to do that show, but it was still important for him to have his scans.”

Robin Gibb toured for more than two weeks during November 2010 and his wife said the cancer had developed to a secondary stage – when the tumor starts to spread to nearby blood vessels – by the time he had a check-up.

Before he died from pneumonia, Robin Gibb astonished doctors by pulling out of his coma for several weeks after Dwina Gibb played a symphony he had composed with his son to mark the centenary of Titanic’s sinking.

She said: “We ended up having a wonderful few weeks with him.”