Promising early results from a clinical trial at the Mayo Clinic out this week suggest that a modified version of the measles virus can be used to target cancer cells and put the condition into remission. Researchers intravenously delivered 10,000 times the typical dosage of measles vaccine to two women, 49- and 65-years-old, who had multiple myeloma, a rare cancer affecting white blood cells in bone marrow. The virus, which was modified to specifically target cancer cells, reduced or eliminated tumors in the two patients. The idea of using viruses to attack cancer isnt a new one — scientists have been studying the technique since the 1950s.
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