Common Cold A Cure For Brain Tumors?

JackMonkey writes "According to this article at CNN, scientists have genetically engineered a cold virus to kill inoperable brain tumors in mice. 'The effects were so stunning that the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are rushing to test the approach in people with brain tumors. If it works, it will be the first treatment for malignant glioma, the deadliest form of brain cancer. '"

Comments

It's the other way around

[mbstone]

Actually, it's brain tumors that are a cure for the common cold.

Is why we haven't been able to cure common cold

[shodson]

If we had cured the common cold we may not have stumbled upon this...

Re:Mice lifespan

[Ieshan]

"The animals lived 140 days -- we took the brains out at that point and found no tumors there," Lang said in a telephone interview. Normally, mice injected with human brain tumor cells die within 20 days."

They checked at 140 days for tumor tissue and didn't find any. Their normal lifespan might be longer, but it's significantly less if you kill them. =P

stone_count=1; dead_bird_count=2;

[Paddyish]

if RIAA/MPAA executives caught it, they just might shrivel up and die as well!

Science can be a beautiful thing...

Re:... and what if things go wrong?

[VendingMenace]

wow, i think you have just stumbled upon a great plot for a sci-fi horror/thriller novel. It would certainly make a gripping plot. AND the general population is still eating up that DNA stuff (don't even get me started on that =P)
yeah i think a book about a genetically engineer cold virus made to cure cancer, but eventually evovled to a brain eating disease would be a big seller. Get on it dude.

SWEET!

An old wives tale

[kolombangara]

This is old news. The phrase "Sneezing my brains out" has been around way before copyrights protected new old discoveries.

quick cure for cancer

[falsification]

Want to become famous? Just cure cancer. Here's how.

1. Get a cancer patient.
2. Get a sample of the patient's tumor.
3. Do a DNA analysis on the tumor. (The tumor DNA will be based on the patient's DNA, but is slightly mutated.
4. Create a special virus that attacks the tumor, but nothing else.
5. Inject the artificial virus into the tumor.
6. Wait a few weeks as the virus eats away the tumor. When there is no more tumor, the virus will die, too.
7. Repeat for all cancer patients.

When you accept your Nobel Prize, be sure to mention /.

Re:... and what if things go wrong?

[NickFusion]

The thing about the common cold is, it's contagious. So I think maybe the worry here is that this brain-eating virus might spread.

Carzy, isn't it? To think that people could get all worked up about a deadly contagious disease.

Thank god it's only slashdot. Imagine if the threat were real!

Re:Like sending soldiers into battle

[Anonymous Coward]

Remind me to tell all my friends about how seriously fucked up you screwheads are.

"Hey, look what I learned at school mom! I can pull a rat's spine apart with my bare hands!"