UCC doctor: Harmless viruses 'could be used to treat cancers'
Researchers at University College Cork have come up with a new treatment for breast cancer using gene therapy.
The Principle Investigator at the Cork Cancer Research Centre at UCC, Dr Mark Tangney, has said his team are very excited by the new approach.
They found that delivering beneficial human genes by means of a virus to breast cancer tumour cells causes genes to generate signals within the tumour to cut off its blood supply and stop its growth.
He is hopeful this new treatment could be available to patients within the next few years.
Dr Tangney said: "We're working in Cork on developments of harmless viruses for the treatment of cancer.
"We're very excited with this approach. We and others around the world believe that using these harmless viruses for cancerous growth in cancer patients could be something that we could all be seeing in our hospitals in the near future."
