Zika virus may help save lives of children with brain tumors
The Zika virus, which causes severe brain damage and kills children, can now be used to treat and save the lives of children with brain tumors, according to the Dailymail.
 |
Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, implanted human central nervous system cancer cells into mice. These are cancer cells that are quite common in children and young adults.
They were then injected with the Zika virus to kill the cancer cells that had been implanted. Of the 29 mice tested, the researchers found that the cancer cells in 20 were stunted in growth and no longer able to spread to other cells.
Dr. Keith Okamoto of the University of Sao Paulo, one of the authors of the study, said that among patients with brain tumors, 15% to 20% have medulloblastoma - a malignant tumor of the central nervous system.
It is known that in the first phase, scientists will only test on two or three children. If the results are optimistic, they will continue to test on a larger scale.
