HealthWatch: Flu Virus Used To Treat Pancreatic Cancer In Mice

BOSTON (CBS) - Pancreatic cancer is a particularly aggressive and deadly cancer, but now researchers in London have developed a modified flu virus to target and kill tumor cells.

The virus has an extra protein that binds pancreatic cancer cells and scientists found the modified virus was able to stop cancer growth in mice.

Pancreatic cancer is often caught late and is incredibly hard to treat because it can quickly become resistant to treatment.

For a variety of cancers, researchers have been turning to mutated viruses to search out and kill cancer cells while trying to avoid drug resistance.

The virus appears to have worked in mice with pancreatic cancer, causing few side effects to neighboring tissues.

Scientists still need to test it in humans, but if successful they say it could be combined with traditional chemotherapy to kill resistant pancreatic cancer cells.