Using Measles to kill breast cancer improves survival 80% (in mice so far)

[Lani]

even with pleural effusions (water AROUND the lining of the lungs--a poor prognostic sign in breast cancer)

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009 Nov 6. [Epub ahead of print]
Demonstration of anti-tumor activity of oncolytic measles virus strains in a malignant pleural effusion breast cancer model.
Iankov ID, Msaouel P, Allen C, Federspiel MJ, Bulur PA, Dietz AB, Gastineau D, Ikeda Y, Ingle JN, Russell SJ, Galanis E.

Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of malignant effusions in cancer patients. Pleural effusion indicates incurable disease with limited palliative treatment options and poor outcome. Here, we demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy of measles virus (MV) vaccine strain derivative against malignant pleural effusion in an MDA-MB-231 xenograft model of advanced breast cancer. Both systemic intravenous (i.v.) and intrapleural (t.t.) administered virus caused massive infection and syncytia formation in the pleural tumor deposits. Intrapleural administration of 1.5 x 10(6) plaque-forming units (PFU) total dose of MV significantly improved median survival by approximately 80% compared to the control animal group. Furthermore, we tested human dendritic cells as carriers for delivery of oncolytic MV infection to breast cancer pleural metastases. Carrier-delivered MV infection prevented accumulation of the pleural exudate and also significantly improved the survival of the treated mice. This is the first demonstration of the therapeutic potential of oncolytic virotherapy against malignant pleural effusions in a pre-clinical model of advanced breast cancer.

PMID: 19894113