Gene Therapy – The new frontier in the fight against cancer!

Scientists in the United Kingdom are using gene therapy, as a new approach to treat cancer. They are using genetically modified Human Herpes Virus (of the family Herpesviridae) to infect tumor cells and to destroy them and by doing so they are able to harness the destructive power of this virus (which usually causes infection in humans, marked by painful, watery blisters in the skin or mucous membranes or on the genitals) to seek out and destroy cancer.

The genetically modified Herpes Virus not only destroys tumor cells, but also produces biomarkers that help our immune system to identify tumor cells. This new approach has been effective in animals and a handful of cancer patients in clinical trials. Scientists believe that gene therapy could become a radical new approach to fight cancer, in future.

This news video from BBC News throws more light on this ground-breaking research.