What is the theory behind the claim that Newcastle disease virus is useful in treating cancer?
The way NDV is given depends on how the virus is used to target cancer cells. It may be used to directly infect the patient with NDV or to make cancer vaccines. Cancer vaccines made with NDV may improve the body’s natural immune response to cancer, causing it to attack and kill more cancer cells than it would if the NDV were not present. Researchers are studying 3 ways of using NDV as a possible cancer treatment: • Infection of the cancer patient with NDV NDV can be injected directly into the tumor, a muscle, or a vein (intravenous injection), or into the colon. The virus can also be inhaled. As explained in Question 1, NDV infects cells and then replicates itself, creating more copies of the virus that can then infect cells throughout the body. This process targets and kills cancer cells by damaging the cells’ outer membranes. • Oncolysate vaccine.Oncolysate vaccines are made using pieces of cancer cell membranes infected with NDV. Oncolysate-based vaccines are injected under or into
