Virus targets melanoma in mice

A virus injected into mice with melanoma proved effective for prompting an immune system response that killed the virus and the tumor, a recent study demonstrated.

Researchers with Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Conn., injected the vesicular stomatitis virus into mice, and determined that the fast-acting virus bypassed healthy melanocytes but found 19 melanoma tumors, according to a news release.

In 70 percent of the tumors that investigators tested, the disease was destroyed, while the remainder demonstrated a limited response to the virus. The immune system’s response in attacking the virus may also allow it to target and destroy the tumor cells, according to the report. Researchers said the study results merit further study of the virus “for its oncolytic and vaccine potential.”

The findings were published in the Journal of Virology.