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Drug shows potential in destroying lung-cancer tumors

Respiratory Care Weekly, August 30, 2006

When is herpes simplex a good thing? If a chemotherapy drug used in conjunction with the virus can destroy lung cancer tumors in humans, according to the August 22 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The herpes simplex virus is injected directly into the tumor, where it enters only the cancer cells and kills them. The chemotherapy drug holds off the body's immune response long enough for the virus to go to work on the tumor. Researchers from the Ohio State University (OSU) said that, when used together, the two therapies might lessen the need to suppress the patient's immune system as much.

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