Cold virus ‘could be used to kill cancer cells’

PLANS are underway for trials of a radical way of fighting cancer, killing tumours by infecting them with viruses like the common cold.

If successful, the virus therapy could become a third pillar, alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy, in the standard battle against cancer, it was reported.

Professor of gene therapy at Oxford University Leonard Seymour will lead the trials later this year. He has been working with viruses that kill cancer cells while avoiding harming healthy tissue.