The world may have gained another weapon against cancer.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have used injections of a bacteria named Clostridium novyi successfully against tumors.
First, the scientists injected the bacteria into the tumors inside of 16 pet dogs. Of those 16 dogs, six showed anti-tumor responses after three weeks of starting the injections. Three dogs had their tumors killed and the other three had their tumors shrunken by at least 30 percent. The dogs did experience side effects typical of infections such as inflammation and fever.
This same bacteria was then injected into a woman who had a soft-tissue tumor inside her abdomen. She experienced a "significant" reduction in the tumor. The researchers are still monitoring the long-term reaction to the bacteria injection.
Rats were also used in testing the bacteria injections, with their tumors killed and surrounding tissue remaining unharmed.
The results of the study were published in the article, "Intratumoral injection of Clostridium novyi-NT spores induces antitumor responses," in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The paper on the study was authored by 40+ scientists that worked on the study.
According to the article's abstract, "We treated a human patient who had an advanced leiomyosarcoma with an intratumoral injection of C. novyi-NT spores. This treatment reduced the tumor within and surrounding the bone. Together, these results show that C. novyi-NT can precisely eradicate neoplastic tissues and suggest that further clinical trials of this agent in selected patients are warranted."
"We expect that some patients will have a stronger response than others, but that's true of other therapies as well. Now, we want to know how well the patients can tolerate this kind of therapy," said Shibin Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., the director of experimental therapeutics at JHU's the Kimmel Cancer Center's Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics.
The research was conducted at The Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland.
