Cancer treatment developed in Guangzhou using natural virus shows promise

A medical research team in Guangzhou has successfully identified and tested a natural virus that could potentially be used to treat a variety of cancers.

The virus identified as M1 has characteristics that allow it to pinpoint and effectively damage cancer cells in a human liver, colorectum, and bladder without affecting normal cells, the research team from Zhangshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University has found.

The virus M1 used in the experiment was detracted from mosquitoes in southern province of Hainan back in 1960s. It is only known to be disseminated among horses and pigs.

The 30-member research team found the virus also worked well on melanoma, cerebral, and prostatic cancer cells based on observations of experiments on laboratory rats and external human cancer tissues.

Their study was published earlier this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an influential US-based scientific journal that presents research papers on biology, physics, and social sciences from around the globe.

Diagrams of the study show the growth rate of cancer cells was significantly suppressed after exposing them to the M1 virus in the laboratory.