OAN's Elizabeth Bolbelding
1:55 PM – Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Researchers are currently working on using a deadly African virus to treat deadly childhood cancers.
advertisement
The Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, lowers the levels of a protein in young patients with certain cancers. Most cases of Zika virus infection involve mosquito bites, unprotected sexual contact between individuals, and transmission from pregnant women to their offspring.
Nemours Children's Health researchers in Florida found that the Zika virus may “reduce neuroblastoma tumors.” Neuroblastoma tumors are tumors that form within nerve cells during childhood development and account for one in seven cancer-related deaths. The kids.
Dr. Matthew Davis, of Nemours Children's Medicine, who is partially credited with coordinating the scientific discovery, said the crew was on the “front line of potentially life-saving cancer treatments.”
“We hope that this research will pave the way to improved survival rates for neuroblastoma patients,” Professor Davis said.
The developmental protein CD24 is produced by cancers such as neuroblastoma, and it has been demonstrated that the Zika virus targets and reduces this protein. In people with normal CD24 levels, this can cause birth defects such as microcephaly.
Zika virus has been shown to reduce CD24 levels in patients with elevated protein levels. As a result, the size of the tumor was significantly reduced.
Study author Dr. Tamara Westmoreland, associate professor of surgery at Nemours Children's Health University, said young cancer patients “are in urgent need of new treatment options.”
“More than half of high-risk neuroblastoma patients either do not respond to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or respond initially but have a recurrence,” Professor Westmoreland said. “These patients are in urgent need of new treatment options.”
Additionally, Dr. Joseph Mazar, another author of the study and a research scientist at Nemours Children's Hospital, also posted a statement regarding the virus.
“With further testing, Zika virus could be a very effective bridging therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma patients,” Mazar said. “We also believe that Zika virus may be used to treat children and children. [even] Adults with other cancers that express high levels of CD24. ”
Neuroblastoma usually occurs in children under 5 years of age, and there are usually about 700 to 800 cases each year.
Stay informed. Receive breaking news directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Please share this post!
