Common cold could revolutionise bladder cancer treatment

The common cold could be used to kill off cancer cells in patients with bladder cancer, new research suggests.

A team of researchers from the University of Surrey and Royal Surrey County Hospital tested what would happen when they exposed patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) to a naturally occurring strain of the common cold.

In a small study, fifteen patients were exposed to the cancer-killing virus coxsackievirus (CVA21) one week before they were scheduled to have surgery to remove their tumours. They received the virus via a catheter in the bladder and results showed that no trace of the cancer was found in one patient following treatment. 

When examining tissue samples after surgery the team found that the virus was highly selective and only targeted cancerous cells in the organ while leaving all other cells intact.

The virus infected cancerous cells and replicated itself causing the cells to rupture and die. Urine samples taken from patients also indicated that once virally infected cancer cells had died, the newly replicated virus continued to attack more cancerous cells in the organ.

Current treatments for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer are problematic, with procedures to remove visible lesions often resulting in tumours reoccurring and progressing over a period of two to five years. The immunotherapy treatment Bacille Calmette-Guerin has also been found to have serious side effects with one third of patients not responding to the treatment at all.

Often, tumours in the bladder do not have immune cells, stopping a patient’s own immune system from eliminating the cancer as it develops. Tumours devoid of immune cells are known as ‘cold’ areas but by treating them with the CVA21, this causes inflammation and immune cell stimulation to create ‘immunological heat’. These ‘hot’ tumours are more likely to be rejected by the immune system.

NMIBC is the 10th most common cancer in the UK with around 10,000 people diagnosed every year with the illness.

Hardev Pandha, principal investigator of the study and professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Surrey said the use of the virus could 'revolutionise treatment' for patients with this particular type of bladder cancer. 

Dr Nicola Annels, research fellow at the University of Surrey, added: “Traditionally viruses have been associated with illness however in the right situation they can improve our overall health and wellbeing by destroying cancerous cells. Oncolytic viruses such as the coxsackievirus could transform the way we treat cancer and could signal a move away from more established treatments such as chemotherapy.”