Science in the News. Is HIV a possible cure for cancer?

 In John Aravosis' article HIV is being used as a possible cure for cancer, he mentions an interesting experiment that could be a breakthrough in the attempt at curing cancer. The interesting thing about his article is that it mentions the intriguing experiments of Penn State researchers that used altered HIV cells to make progress towards finding a cure.

Researchers from Penn have been experimenting with the intent on killing cancer cells. Their main area of focus includes the effects of altered HIV cells on cancerous tumors. The idea behind it is that the destructive nature of HIV could be targeted to attack cancer cells exclusively. In order to accomplish this goal, the researchers developed a technique to modify T-cells to produce an antibody-like protein.

The researchers would remove the T-cells from a patient who had failed all previous chemo treatments and would most likely would have died within a month. Then, the cells would be cultured and the genetically engineered HIV would be added to the existing T-cells. Turns out, the HIV naturally binds to T-cells and injects its own genetics, successfully taking the cells over. This forces the cells to produce millions of copies of HIV before they die, but the researchers edited the HIV so that it wouldn't cause infected cells to produce additional HIV cells. The cells would then be infused into the patients.

These "serial killer" T-cells have the potential to kill about 1,000 tumor cells that had the specific antigen in them that the HIV-altered cells were targeting. Most results were very successful in the study. For example, in an experiment, T-cells destroyed approximately two pounds of cancerous tumor. There were twelve patients who served as participants in a small clinical trial with the altered HIV T-cells and nine patients, after three years, show no evidence of any remaining leukemic cells and are doing well compared to those who have cancer.

Although these studies are very specific to a certain antigen and type of cancer, it is an innovative research experiment that will cause more ideas and experiments due to the high rates of success. The idea that a highly lethal virus could possibly be the cure for cancer is an enlightening idea. The genetically altered HIV study brings hope to other scientists that have the goal of curing a disease or improving the treatments.