Going Viral Just Got a Lot More Crucial: Cold Virus Linked to Cancer Cure

The virus works its magic by stimulating an immune protein within the cancer cells, which in turn flags other immune cells to participate in the evacuation of the cancerous element. Unlike all preceding treatments associated with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, this approach is non-invasive and has produced zero side effects.

Tumors of this kind in the bladder are generally referred to by medical practitioners as "cold," and thus invisible to the immune system, but the introduction of the CVA21 virus appears to switch them to a "hot" reading, making the body's natural defenses react in a positive way. 

With its high rate of recurrence, bladder cancer has not only stumped cure-seeking researchers for decades but has also cost the NHS more than any other kind of cancer on record today.

Developments in progressive cancer therapies can often seem to skip over these more resilient brands of the illness, and thus the data from the CVA21 study represents what many are heralding as revolutionary, not merely hopeful. All participating patients in this study recorded cancer cell death, and one saw a total eradication of all symptoms of the disease.

Common immunotherapy drug treatments are known as "checkpoint inhibitors" will now be paired with CVA21 in the hopes that additional progress can be made toward a cure.

Virus-based therapies have shown promising success rates in skin cancer trials in the past, and researchers eagerly anticipate applying them to large-scale trials based on other predominant kinds of cancer.