Virus JX-594 Found to Target Cancer Cells

JX-594 attacked tumours in 23 patients as part of a small trial. Healthy tissue in the patients' bodies was left unharmed.

A group of researchers led by Professor John Bell from the University of Ottawa in Canada has found that a virus injected into the blood is able to successfully target cancer cells throughout the body.

The virus, named JX-594, attacked tumours in 23 patients as part of a small trial, the researchers wrote in scientific journal Nature. Healthy tissue in the patients' bodies was left unharmed.

The researchers wrote in the journal: "We hypothesised that a poxvirus, which evolved for blood-borne systemic spread in mammals, could be engineered for cancer-selective replication and used as a vehicle for the intravenous delivery and expression of transgenes in tumours."