Who would have thought that a single, huge blast of measles vaccine could actually send a widespread blood cancer into remission? That was discovered in a new test by researchers over at the Mayo Clinic. Stacy Erholtz, who happened to be suffering from an advanced stage of blood cancer, managed to see her situation improve, courtesy of an intravenous injection of the measles virus that subsequently overwhelmed the cancer’s natural defenses.
Where clinical trials are concerned, this is said to be a small test because it had just a couple of subjects. Lead researcher Dr. Stephen Russell thinks that it has been a promising start, shared, “It’s a landmark. We’ve known for a long time that we can give a virus intravenously and destroy metastatic cancer in mice. Nobody’s shown that you can do that in people before.”
The measles vaccine would see the viruses bind to cancer cells, using them to replicate. Along the way, the entire process would destroy the cells, while the body’s immune system kicks into action and attacks whatever remains since it has been “marked” as a virus, or infected material. Apart from that, the doctors managed to figure out a benchmark for the virus dose required to reduce cancer in patients, which would be 100 billion infectious units instead of the standard 10,000 units.
Of course, this does not make it an instant cancer cure overnight as there are still some more hurdles to pass, including your body’s defenses.
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