Apparently, scientists have found a strain of the virus successfully targets and destroys some cancer cells. They say that some cancer patients have had their disease wiped out by the common cold.
I have to say this is amazing research - let's have a deeper look.
One bladder cancer patient had no trace of their disease a week after being treated with the bug.
Medics say they were "surprised" by the response (I'm a bit shocked myself), which has the possibility of revolutionising how they tackle the illness. Current bladder cancer treatments are not very effective and can be toxic.
Admittedly the Surrey University research only trialed using 15 people in early stages of the illness. They had a concentrated solution containing the coxsackievirus strain of cold flushed around their bladder for an hour. A week later, the medics found the bug had successfully infected the cancerous cells and caused them to die. It also acted like a "burglar alarm" by alerting the body's immune system to attack the disease. Crucially, nobody had any side-effects and healthy tissue was unaffected by the virus.
They are now planning larger trials on other cancers.
Lead Researcher, Professor Hardev Pandha said: "it works by warning up the tumour and getting all the immune soldier cells recruited to the right place."
HMHB says:
Anything that can help in our fight against cancer is terrific. I do wonder how they hit on the idea of using a cold virus inside the body!! But the results must be seen as encouraging.
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