A new form of cancer treatment, which combines chemotherapy with a separate treatment called “suicide gene therapy” has been shown to successfully and safely kill prostate tumor cells.
According to UPI, researchers at Houston Methodist Hospital used the new treatment on a sample group of 66 patients over the course of four years between 1999 and 2003. The sample group was divided into two different subsections: one consisting of patients whose cancer diagnosis was considered more severe, and another whose cancer was considered less severe.
When patients received their chemotherapy treatment in tandem with “suicide gene therapy,” survival rates increased drastically. The less severe group saw a survival rate of 97%, while the more severe group saw a survival rate of 94%.
These hopeful survival rates marked a 5 to 20 percent increase over previous survival rates achieved by other procedures.
“Suicide gene therapy” works by the manipulation of prostate cancer cells using a combination of viruses. For example, the herpes gene was delivered directly into the cancer cells using an adenovirus, the virus that causes the common cold.
“Once the herpes virus gene was delivered and it started manufacturing TK[thymidine kinase], we have patients a commonly used anti-herpes drug, valacyclovir,” said Brian Butler, chair of the radiation oncology department at Houston Methodist Hospital in a press release.
“The combination attacked the herpes DNA, and the TK-producing tumor cells self-destructed, which is why the procedure is called ‘suicide gene therapy.'”
In addition to creating a more effective and comprehensive cancer treatment, the combination of chemotherapy and “suicide gene therapy” also works to alert the patient’s immune system to the presence of the tumor cells. This encourages the immune system to work to attack the cells as well, which lead researchers to dub the treatment “suicide gene therapy.”
Researchers believe that this new method of treating cancer could soon become practice.