Skin Cancer
(IN PHOTO) Thai Thi Nga, a 12-year-old Vietnamese who suffers from melanoma, a skin disorder that Vietnam says was caused by her father's exposure to the U.S. defoliant Agent Orange, learns embroidery at a center for the handicapped in Hanoi February 11, 2002. The United States and Vietnam agreed on Sunday to investigate the effects of the chemical, which has been blamed for thousands of birth defects years after being dropped by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Reuters

T-Vec, a genetically modified strain of herpes, was found in the final phases of the testing of a new drug to kill skin cancer cells and stop the further growth of tumours. By using viruses instead of chemotherapy which kills any proliferating cells, it narrowly aims at cancer cells only.

Besides killing the cancerous cells of melanoma patients, the virus also activates the body’s immune system to battle cancer, reports Time. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, changes the way the medical community now sees viruses – often viewed as man’s enemy – to its ability to specifically infect and kill human cells, said Paul Workman, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, or ICR.

The study had over 400 patients suffering from aggressive malignant melanoma as respondents. That is the most fatal type of skin cancer. About 16 percent of patients who received the T-Vec treatment exhibited lasting response for six months, while only 2 percent of the control group who got normal treatment showed lasting response.

The patients who showed the strongest response to the new drug are those suffering from less advanced form of melanoma. They are those with stage IIIB, IIIC and IVM1a.

The medication, manufactured by Amgen, is now waiting for the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration. The trial, on its phase 3, for T-Vec, or Talimogene Laherparepvec, was conducted by the UK-based ICR and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, reports Medical News Today.

Kevin Harrington, honorary consultant at Royal Marsden and professor of biological cancer therapies at ICR, adds, “There is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-VEC for cancer, because they can launch a two-pronged attack on tumors – both killing cancer cells directly and marshaling the immune system against them.”

The publication of the study is timely as diagnoses of melanoma is on the rise. In 2015 alone, 73,870 new cases were diagnosed in the US. About 10,000 people are projected to die this year from the ailment.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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