Scientist treated her own stage 3 cancer with viruses she grew in the lab
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Ivanka Popić/Getty Stock Image
A scientist remarkably treated her own stage three cancer with viruses she was growing in the lab.
Those who have been diagnosed with cancer will more often than not receive treatment (whether it be chemotherapy or something else) from a medical professional at a hospital or healthcare centre.
But when Beata Halassy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, she went down a different path.
As per Nature, the scientist discovered she had the disease at the site of a previous mastectomy, which was a second reoccurrence in the area since she had her breast removed.
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Anyone that has had chemotherapy can tell you about the brutal after-effects that come with it, and Beata didn't want to go through that again.
So, the scientist decided to take matters into her own hands in the form of an unproven test - which was certainly a big risk in practice.
Beata self-administered a treatment called oncolytic virotherapy (OVT), and a case report published in Vaccines revealed how she did it.
An abstract from the report explains: "Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are an emerging class of cancer therapeutics that offer the benefits of selective replication in tumour cells, delivery of multiple eukaryotic transgene payloads, induction of immunogenic cell death and promotion of antitumour immunity, and a tolerable safety profile that largely does not overlap with that of other cancer therapeutics.
"To date, four OVs and one non-oncolytic virus have been approved for the treatment of cancer globally although talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) remains the only widely approved therapy."
Essentially, the treatment uses viruses to attack cancerous cells and influence the immune system in fighting them, like it would with any other illness.
Beata is in no way an expert in OVT, but her knowledge in the area of viruses allowed her to create a successful treatment plan.
That's right, the scientist has been cancer-free for four years following the successful implantation of the treatment.
She targeted her tumor with two different virus: a measles virus that was swiftly followed by a vesicular stomatitis virus.
While also attacking the cancer, Beata reported no major side effects, as oncologists monitored her self treatment.
Of course, with any new treatments ,there are always questions as to whether it's ethical.
Jacob Sherkow, a medicine researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said: "I think it ultimately does fall within the line of being ethical, but it isn’t a slam-dunk case."