[extropy-chat] HIV Transformed Into Cancer Seeking Missile

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

Researchers in the U.S. have transformed HIV into a harmless virus
that can seek out cancer cells. The next step would be to insert a
gene that could destroy cancer cells on contact.
The team said gene therapy has been hampered for the past 20 years due
to the lack of a good carrier that can target a precise location. "The
disarmed AIDS virus acts like a Trojan horse, transporting therapeutic
agents to a targeted part of the body, such as the lungs, where tumors
often spread," said researcher Dr. Irvin Chen, from UCLA's Aids
Institute.
The team conducted experiments using the cancer seeking HIV missile on
laboratory mice with a form of skin cancer, called melanoma, that had
spread to the lungs.
The team injected the harmless virus into the animal's bloodstream and
used a special optical camera to track the carrier's movement.
The virus homed straight to the cancer cells in the lungs of the mice.
"Our next step will be to test whether we can direct therapeutic genes
to the precise location where cancer cells reside," said Dr. Chen.
Dr. Chen's report appears in the online edition of Nature Medicine.
http://www.healthtalk.ca/cancer_hiv_021405_39933.php