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

Like sending soldiers into battle

[ObviousGuy]

Those rats are poor little creatures indeed, taking brain tumors for mankind and being dissected after 140 days of life. But like the dying soldier on the battlefield, their deaths have meaning and significance.

I certainly hope this treatment works without problems, but that it is being reported by CNN doesn't really give me much confidence.

Re:Like sending soldiers into battle

[curious.corn]

Once, after watching some gruesome footage from some anti-vivisectionist group I was quite shocked. After some navigation I'm more-or-less convinced that the rodents die a gentle death, drifting to unconciousness before passing away. Many people die in their sleep and I don't think they suffer as long as they're not aware of what's coming (that's why I think capital punishment is inhumane... it's a torture)

Mice lifespan

[klui]

The article said 60% died in 140 days vs. 20 days without treatment. Is this their normal lifespan?

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

Re:Mice lifespan

[VersedM]

Normal lifespan for the mice used in research is between one and two years.

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...

In all seriousness

[littlerubberfeet]

Research into the common cold has skyrocketed due to SARS. How is this related? Is it at all?

If researchers are finding benefits to viral infections, is there a benefit to SARS? how about Polio, Smallpox, or any of the other diseases we have wiped out? Does AIDS have an intrinsic benefit?

I am not advocating research into the above points, but am merely interested in benefits to supposedly harmfull viruses.

... and what if things go wrong?

[|_uke]

Don't get me wrong here. I am all for genetic engineering... but I have play devils advocate for a moment here...

IANAS but they are takeing a cold virus... and makeing it kill BAD brain tissue? What happens if the virus ends up killing normal brain tissue for some reason? Mutation or oversight on their part?

Not that I am saying this could or would happen... but what if? Especially if this thing managed to spread much like SARS has been doing?

It would be pretty damn scary if the next plague was caused by people having their brains eaten away =)

Of course, then again... Benificial genetically modified virii are probably very much our future. Could you imagine one day going in for innoculations... where the innoculation is a host of ACTIVE virii designed with keeping specific things in check? (Cancer and etc.) Or even more interesting... becomeing innoculated just by hanging out with a friend who went in for the shots? LOL

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!

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

[olman]

If you're already dying out of the brain tumor, are you going to give a damn?

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!

Diabetes Cured Too

[bill_mcgonigle]

Some scientists used a similar virus technique to insert a gene into mouse liver cells, convincing them to be pancreas cells and produce insulin, thereby curing their diabetes. Good stuff.

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...

fine and dandy

[Noodlenose]

The problem with most of these announcements is that either due to the lack of

• a) funding
• b) applicabilty in vivo hominis

these things never ever have an impact on clinical medicine. All these press releases do is please the ego of the biologist. Clinical medicine is mostly untouched by "discoveries" like that.

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:well F*uck

[turgid]

Sorry to hear about your dad. My grandmother died in the same way. It's a terrible fact of life that as things progress, there are things which if only we'd know about them sooner, things would be different. Although this can't bring back our relatives, it is a glimmer of hope for the future, for those who have or are going to develop brain tumours, and maybe even other kinds of tumour. Hindsight can be cruel, but this offeres hope too.