Hybrid polio virus targets brain tumours

An efficient mechanism for killing brain tumours has been developed using a genetically modified polio virus.
Mice treated with the hybrid polio virus, produced by crossing the polio virus with the rhino virus (which causes the common cold), were seen to recover after one dose. 'Pathological analysis of the brains of mice with experimental brain tumours revealed tumours to be completely eliminated within days,' according to Matthias Gromeier of Duke University, North Carolina, where the treatment was developed.
The creation of this therapy began when researchers discovered that the polio virus naturally binds to CD155. This molecule is abnormally expressed on malignant gliomas, the most common type of brain tumour.
By incorporating a piece of genetic information from the rhino virus into the polio virus, its ability to cause polio myelitis in humans was removed. It did, however, retain an excellent killing potential for malignant glioma cells.
Malignant glioma is almost always fatal because it has a poor response to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. This new therapy was presented at the 101st General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology, 20-24 May 2001, in Florida.

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