Can A Mutant Measles Virus Threaten Populations?
February 29, 2008 Dear Mayo Clinic: The recent film “I am Legend” is about a genetically altered virus that is supposed to cure cancer but instead kills most of the people on the planet. I read that the measles virus is being tested as a cure for cancer. Is it safe? Answer: The film you mention, based on the 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, plays on our anxiety about the emergence and spread of lethal viruses. In the movie, a genetically engineered measles virus is used successfully to treat cancer. But it then evolves to become a deadly pathogen that spreads uncontrollably and causes a rabies-like illness. Research using a genetically engineered measles virus as an experimental cancer therapy has been under way for several years. The altered virus is derived from the measles vaccine, a weakened strain of measles that has been effectively controlling the measles virus for decades. The vaccine has remained effective because the measles virus itself is very stable. Over th
