Scientists use virus to fight breast cancer

Virologist Beata Halassy tested a cancer treatment but it has not yet been approved in her case. She has now been cancer-free for nearly four years. Careless behavior or a major advance in cancer research?

Stephanie Schneederiger/ch media

Beata Halassy, ​​53, has beaten breast cancer twice. But then it appeared a third time: a 2-centimeter tumor that was particularly aggressive and had luckily not spread yet.

Halasi, a virologist at the University of Zagreb, decided to create the virus in her lab and inject it directly into tumors. The virus multiplies in cancer cells until they rupture, causing the immune system to attack the infected cells. In fact: Hallasi's tumor shrank so much that it was easily removed with surgery. She has now been cancer-free for nearly four years. Halassi described the self-experiment in the journal Vaccine.

Won the Nobel Prize

Beata Harassi is not the first scientist to try to study herself. One prominent example is Australian doctor Barry Marshall, who drank a solution containing Helicobacter pylori in 1984. He wanted to prove that it was actually the bacterium that caused stomach ulcers – a theory that has hitherto been controversial. But Marshall soon developed severe gastritis and was able to detect bacteria in his stomach. He cured himself with antibiotics, a courageous attempt that earned Marshall the 2005 Nobel Prize.

Virologin Beata Halasi.Image: Ivanka Popich

The fate of Andrew White, a British doctor who was searching for a vaccine to prevent the plague, was even more tragic. To arm his immune system against the plague pathogen, he rubbed the pus of a plague-stricken woman into wounds on his thighs and arms. He had a high fever and swollen lymph nodes. He died in hospital a week later.

Despite the risks of self-experimentation, most scientists consider it valuable. This is the finding of a survey published in the journal Renewal Research. The study's authors believe that self-experiments should not be banned because they provide important insights and make historically significant advances possible.

Questionable scientific value

Professor Reinhard Dummer, a skin cancer expert at the University Hospital of Zurich, also believes that self-experimentation like what Beata Halassy did is “completely fine and is the responsibility of the scientists themselves.” “If you believe in something, the logical step is to try it yourself,” he said.

Roger von Moss, director of the Center for Oncology and Research at the Cantonal Hospital in Graubünden, largely agrees. Everyone can decide for themselves what they want to do with their body. But he doesn't support it in principle.

The oncologist also noted: “It seems to me very doubtful that self-experimentation will lead to any substantial knowledge gains.” That's because Beata Halassy tried a lot at once: She injected herself with two A different virus, had surgery, and was treated with trastuzumab, an approved breast cancer drug. It is known that cancer initially shrinks after viral treatment. But we don't know how the cancer is ultimately defeated, von Moss said.

He followed virotherapy research closely and was aware of a previous clinical trial in which the group receiving virotherapy had a higher mortality rate than the placebo group.

Viruses don't just attack cancer cells

The idea of ​​using viruses to fight cancer has been around for more than 100 years. Although some clinical trials are currently in early stages, such as those targeting brain tumors, liver cancer or breast cancer, only one so-called oncolytic viral therapy has been approved so far: T-Vec. This is a drug to treat black skin cancer, consisting of a genetically modified herpes virus. “For this form of tumor, viral therapy sometimes works very well,” says Reinhard Dummer. Since ulcers are located on or near the surface of the body, they are easy to inject.

For other tumors, such as liver tumors, reaching cancer cells is much more difficult. “This can even lead to life-threatening bleeding,” Dumer said. It is better to inject the viruses into the bloodstream and let them find the tumors and possible branches on their own. Just: “The body's own immune system immediately fights the viruses, so that they are eliminated in a short time – and therefore can no longer fight the cancer cells.” This is the main weakness of viral therapies so far: “Especially because of superficial tumors Rarely fatal. Metastasis is almost always fatal.”

Furthermore, it is currently not possible to genetically manipulate a virus so that it only reproduces in cancer cells and not in healthy cells. “With T-Vec, we also found the injected viruses in healthy cells, but they were probably less aggressive than cancer cells,” said Dr. Zurich.

Roger von Mauss also observed the difficulties with virotherapy. In addition, the handling of the virus is also complicated: to prevent infection from the virus, all medical staff must wear protective clothing. “In the time it takes to treat one patient with virotherapy, five patients can be treated with one of today's very effective immunotherapies,” the oncologist said, adding: “In order for virotherapy to become established, we have to be able to more Genetically manipulate the virus.”

Who knows: maybe this brilliant idea will come from the laboratory of Croatian virologist Halasi. While she previously focused on the development of vaccines, antibody therapies and antivenoms, her research interests are now focused on “harnessing the power of viruses to fight cancer” thanks to her aggressive self-experimentation, Science reports. SciProfiles” website. (aargauerzeitung.ch)

A DHL cargo plane crashed into a residential area in Vilnius. The plane came from Leipzig – where an incendiary device made headlines in July.

A cargo plane taking off from Leipzig crashed in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Monday morning. The emergency services alarm was sounded at 4:28 a.m. Swiss time (5:28 a.m. local time). Debris hit a house. Twelve people living inside were rescued uninjured.