FRIDAY, Nov. 25, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- A single injection of a cancer-fighting bug called myxoma virus killed malignant human brain tumors in mice and prolonged the animals' lives, according to a Canadian study in the journal Cancer Research.
"We're extremely encouraged by these results and the apparent cure seen in the mice treated with the active virus compared to untreated mice or those injected with inactivated virus," study co-author Grant McFadden, a scientist at Robarts Research Institute in Ontario, said in a prepared statement.
More than 130 days after the virus was injected into their tumors, more than 92 percent of the 13 mice were alive and apparently "cured," the study said.
"Those animals continued to show a selective and long-lived myxoma virus infection in the tumors themselves but that infection did not spread and harm the animal," study co-author Dr. Peter Forsyth, a professor in the departments of oncology, biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Calgary, said in a prepared statement.
"This and other factors suggest that myxoma virus warrants further investigation as a potential treatment for malignant brain tumors in people," Forsyth said.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about brain tumor treatment.
