New study to utilise Zika virus to combat brain tumours

A new UK study is to investigate whether the Zika virus can be used as a means of combatting brain cancer.

The University of Cambridge study, funded by Cancer Research UK, will test the effect of the virus on glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain tumour, using lab mice and isolated cells.

Existing treatments are limited by their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, while doses must be kept low to avoid damage to healthy tissue. The Zika virus has shown an ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, and can target cancer cells while sparing normal brain tissue.

Although Zika infection in pregnancy can cause severe disability in babies by attacking stem cells in the developing brain, it causes no more than mild flu-like symptoms in adults, in whom the brain is fully grown.

The first step of the research will be to explore how the virus targets stem cells, offering a starting point to develop new treatments.

Dr Harry Bulstrode, a Cancer Research UK scientist at the University of Cambridge, said: "If we can learn lessons from Zika's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and target brain stem cells selectively, we could be holding the key to future treatments."

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