Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the United States recently reported that they had "cured" an American woman's advanced multiple myeloma with ultra-high doses of treated measles virus. However, the researchers also emphasized that this therapy is still in the initial stages of human trials.
According to the new issue of "Mayo Clinic Journal", before receiving treatment, this 49-year-old woman's cancer had spread throughout the body, and a tumor with a diameter of 3 cm grew on her forehead. The measles virus therapy developed by the researchers selectively kills myeloma plasma cells. The woman got "complete relief" after a single injection, which has been maintained for more than 6 months.
Another 65-year-old woman with multiple myeloma did not get the desired results after the same treatment. However, the researchers said, imaging technology clearly showed that the injected measles virus still targeted the woman's myeloma plasma cells. It should be emphasized that usually the measles vaccine contains only 10,000 units of measles virus, and the two patients in this study have not been exposed to measles before. They started treatment with 1 million units of virus and eventually increased to 100 billion. The effect is only seen when the amount of virus per unit, such a large amount of virus is enough to provide 10 million people with measles vaccination. The researchers said that the two patients had no other treatment options for the spread of their tumors before they accepted this experimental therapy.
Regarding the significance of this result, the researchers pointed out that it conceptually shows that "viral therapy", that is, the method of infecting and destroying cancer cells with viruses without harming normal tissues, can effectively treat deadly multiple myeloma.