伦敦癌症研究中心：利用病毒改善癌症治疗效果

近日，美域健康专业翻译编译的文章指出，伦敦癌症研究中心本月发布的一项新研究中，在对抗癌症STAND UP TO CANCER(SU2C）资助下，研究人员使用病毒来增加一系列癌症治疗的效果，包括免疫治疗和放射治疗。

   “我们希望通过改变并将免疫激活病毒注射到人体内治疗癌症的方法，为更多的病人带来有效的免疫疗法。”伦敦癌症研究中心的科学家Alan Melcher教授正在研究如何用特种病毒来杀死癌细胞，该方法可以用来治疗癌症及其相关的治疗。

免疫治疗药物是用来激活人体自身防御系统从而杀死癌细胞已经彻底颠覆了癌症的治疗方法。但这只对部分病人非常有效。

   为改善这种情况，Alan Melcher教授和他的同事们正在开发新型病毒，注射到皮肤癌患者的血液中来消灭肿瘤。

这种消灭肿瘤的方法对于治疗免疫系统疾病来说是一个极大地突破，如果人体免疫系统被免疫治疗药物激活，这将是一种更有效的癌症治疗方法。

同时，他们也会结合病毒治疗方法与放射治疗方法。放射治疗法通过杀死癌细胞从而引起免疫应答来帮助清理细胞残骸，如果同时进行病毒治疗法也许能够引起人体免疫应答，从而增强身体抗癌的战斗力。

    使用病毒疗法可以减少类固醇对免疫系统的影响。类固醇通常是用来治疗癌症和帮助患者应对治疗引起的副作用。在某些情况下，类固醇的副作用是可以降低免疫反应。

   患者的免疫反应降低，通过注入一种病毒可以重新唤醒它应对肿瘤。伦敦癌症研究中心的平移免疫治疗法的Alan Melcher教授说：“免疫系统是对付癌症的一个令人难以置信的强大工具，但是只对某些特定的癌症患者产生作用。为了帮助更多的患者，更多的了解免疫疗法如何工作，如何好的运用于其它癌症的治疗，以及如何提高免疫疗法对于治疗癌症的有效性至关重要。

   “我们希望通过改变并将免疫激活病毒注射到人体内治疗癌症的办法，为更多的病人带来有效的免疫疗法。”

    这个研究也探索了一种对抗癌症的有效方法。经过病人实践的可以通过将病毒直接注射到肿瘤的方法。但是它也有局限性，如果癌细胞已经扩散到全身，是不可以治疗所有患者。研究人员也在寻找安全和有效地方法来将病毒传播到血液，就可以发现病人的癌细胞什么时候已经扩散到全身。( 美域健康漆琳编译)

Researchers deploy viruses to improve cancer treatments

    STAND UP TO CANCER-funded researchers are using viruses to ramp up the effectiveness of a range of cancer treatments – including immunotherapy and radiotherapy, in a new study launched this month.

    “We hope that our approach of adapting and then injecting the body with immune activating viruses that seek out and target the cancer, could bring effective immunotherapies to many more patients.”- Professor Alan Melcher，The scientists, based at The Institute for Cancer Research, London, are looking at how specialised viruses that hunt down and attack cancer cells, could be used treat the disease alongside other treatments.

    Immunotherapy drugs that are designed to activate the body's own defences to attack the cancer cells are revolutionising how the disease is treated. But, while they are extremely effective for some patients, they don’t work for others.

    To turn this around, Professor Alan Melcher and his colleagues are developing viruses that could be injected into the bloodstream of skin cancer patients and are designed to start attacking the tumour.

    This attack would flag the disease to immune system which, if activated by an immunotherapy drug, could prove an even more effective approach to treating the disease.

   They will also use their virus approach in combination with radiotherapy. By killing cancer cells, radiotherapy triggers an immune response to help mop up the debris. Giving a virus at the same time may boost this response and ramp up the body's cancer fighting power.

    Using viruses could reduce the impact of steroids on the immune system. Steroids are commonly used to treat cancer and to help patients cope with the side-effects of their treatment. In some cases, a side effect of steroids is a reduced immune response.

    In patients whose immune response is decreased, injecting a virus could reawaken it to tackle the tumour.

    Professor Alan Melcher, professor of translational immunotherapy at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "The immune system is an incredibly powerful tool in dealing with cancer, but it only works in some patients. Understanding more about how it works, how immunotherapy can best be used other alongside cancer therapies, and how we can boost the immune system's effectiveness against cancer is vital to helping more patients.

   "We hope that our approach of adapting and then injecting the body with immune activating viruses that seek out and target the cancer, could bring effective immunotherapies to many more patients."

    The study will also explore the most effective way of giving a cancer-attacking virus. The only approach that has been approved for patients involves the virus being injected directly into the tumour. But this approach is limited, and cannot reach all the cancer if it has spread around the body. The researchers are also looking at safe and effective ways to deliver viruses into the bloodstream, so that they can seek out cancers wherever they have spread around the body.