Human Immune Virus Capable of Killing Cancer Cells

Orange County, CA - February 22nd 2017 - Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer and though manageable through treatments, has no cure. The disease causes cancerous plasma cells to collect in the patient’s bone marrow. Plasma cells are a type of white blood cell that produce antibodies to maintain the immune system. When affected by the cancer, plasma cells become myeloma cells that produce M proteins, abnormal antibodies with no beneficial aspects in the immune system; instead they multiply until impeding upon naturally forming and functioning antibodies. While new research has significantly increased life expectancy of those diagnosed, mortality rates remain fairly high due to relapse. This can occur through reinfusion of cancerous cells during a stem cell transplant or from growth after chemotherapy treatments. To improve the quality of life of those diagnosed, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina recently completed a study testing myxoma virus (MYXV) as a viable treatment for multiple myeloma (MM), a hematological cancer. Eric C. Bartee, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Microbiology and Immunology at MUSC, has been working with the myxoma virus for several years. The MYXV, though non-infectious to humans, is a virus native to rabbits that suppresses the immune system. Bartee has been treating MM in cell cultures with the virus, but was previously able to show the virus was able to eradicate the MM in human stem cells prior to reinfusion.