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Anyone else worried that using virotherapy may result in those virus' building up resistance, similar to what's happening now with antibiotics and superbugs.
by kevin818 12y ago
Anyone else worried that using virotherapy may result in those virus' building up resistance, similar to what's happening now with antibiotics and superbugs.
- Fomite 12y agoResistance to what? There's no particular selective pressure on the virus. If you mean the cancers becoming resistant, one of the appeals of using viruses in therapeutic settings is they can evolve right alongside their targets, helping mitigate some of those resistance problems.
- kevin818 12y agoApologies, I was referring to the cancer becoming immune.
- DaveWalk 12y agoYou've got a good concern, just backwards: the virus is cleared from the patient, but the body becomes immune to the virus. Thus, it can only be used one time, which may limit the therapy's effectiveness.
- kevin818 12y agoYes this is what I was curious about. As happy and excited I am for the breakthrough, I'm also nervous about the repercussions of it.
- 8_hours_ago 12y agoUnlike bacteria, cancer isn't spread from person to person, so it's impossible for the treatment of person A's cancer cells to impact the treatment of person B's cancer cells. However the cancer cells within in a single person can become resistant, which is why this treatment is a one time shot.