It turns out Zika causes microcephaly because it can get through the brain’s blood barrier that keeps most pathogens out – and it attacks stem cells.. But this capability, if harnessed, may turn out to be a useful weapon in the fight against the worst of brain cancer – glioblastoma. Clare Wilson of NewScientist (9 September ) reports:
Jeremy Rich at the University of California, San Diego, and his team have tested the Zika virus on glioblastoma, the most common kind of brain cancer. Glioblastoma is one of the most difficult cancers to treat – even after surgery and other therapies, it usually kills people within a year of diagnosis.
The team found that exposing samples of human glioblastoma tumours grown in a dish to the Zika virus destroyed the cancer stem cells. It is these stem cells that usually kill a person, as they can become resistant to all available treatments. …
The researchers have no plans to start testing Zika in people with brain cancer as they are concerned the virus could pass to pregnant women: a mosquito species that carries Zika is found in some parts of the US, and the virus can also be transmitted sexually. Instead, they plan to see if they can genetically modify the virus to be safer, but still work as a possible treatment for brain cancer.
Another team in the UK is planning a test using unaltered Zika. Now if we can find a way to treat individuals with Zika, which is really only dangerous to fetuses and infants, this might be an intriguing approach to the problem of brain cancer.
