Two recent developments in cancer treatment not only give hope to patients suffering formerly untreatable cancers, but also give some insight into the amazing genius of our technology and of the people who are working on these very difficult diseases.
The first story is about how measles virus is being used to kill tumors that have metastasized throughout the body. A woman who had failed to respond to any other treatment was declared cancer free at the Mayo Clinic after undergoing the procedure.
The second report is also about the use of a virus to kill cancer (these are called oncolytic viruses). In this case a herpes virus, used in conjunction with adult stem cells, was manipulated by researchers at Harvard to kill brain tumors.
This is fantastic news and gives hope that the diagnosis of cancer, which only a few decades ago was a death sentence, will continue to become much less frightening.