US researchers used poliovirus to fight brain cancer

Polio ravaged generations until a vaccine came out in the 1950s. The virus invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

Doctors at Duke University in the United States wanted to take advantage of the strong immune system response it spurs to try to fight cancer.

With the help of the National Cancer Institute, they genetically modified poliovirus so it would not harm nerves but still infect tumor cells.

The treatment is dripped directly into the brain through a thin tube.

Inside the tumor, the immune system recognises the virus as a foreign agent and mounts an attack.

Survival was better than expected for patients in a small study who were given genetically modified poliovirus, which helped their bodies attack the cancer, doctors report.

It was the first human test and it didn’t help most patients or improve median survival.

But, many who did respond seemed to have a long-lasting benefit: About 21 percent were alive at three years versus 4 percent in a comparison group of previous brain tumor patients.

Duke University’s Dr. Annick Desjardins says “This is really a first step,” and doctors were excited to see any survival benefit in a study testing safety, said one researcher.

When doctors explained the idea to Michael Niewinski, it seemed a feat “like putting a man on the moon,” he said.

The 33-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, was treated last August and said a recent scan seemed to show some tumor shrinkage.

“I’m pain-free, symptom-free,” he said.

The treatment causes a lot of brain inflammation, and two-thirds of patients had side effects.

The most common ones were headaches, muscle weakness, seizure, trouble swallowing and altered thinking skills.

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