'Terminator' virus kills cancer cells

NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- So-called terminator viruses have successfully fought cancer in mice, including metastases outside the main tumor, Columbia University researchers say.

"While the results of these trials need to be investigated further and replicated in future trials, we believe that viral-based therapies will someday soon be a standard part of the cancer armamentarium," or collection of treatments available for a particular condition, said lead researcher Paul Fisher.

"We are extremely excited about ... the prospect of one day using a form of the cancer terminator virus in human clinical trials," Fisher said.

Fisher is lead author of two papers -- one published in Cancer Research and the other in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS.

The study described in Cancer Research added iV interferon-gamma to the terminator virus to destroy metastases outside the main pancreatic cancer tumor.

The study described in PNAS added a gene, mda-7/IL-24, to the terminator virus to battle breast cancer. The gene is in phase II clinical trials, researchers said.

In January, the Columbia team reported in PNAS that a terminator virus killed prostate cancer cells without harming healthy cells.