Scientists Want to Use Zika Virus
to Fight Brain Cancer New research published in
'MBio' on Tuesday suggests
that the viral disease could become
a powerful brain cancer treatment. In 2015, Zika — which is typically spread
by mosquitoes — was found to occasionally
cause birth defects in children whose mothers
had contracted the virus while pregnant. Researchers have been trying to understand
for years why the virus attacks the fetal brain. While focusing on developing treatments
against Zika, researchers at the University
of Texas Medical Branch began to wonder if they could put the virus's picky appetite to good use. The deadliest
form of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), seemed like a good place to start. Mice that had human GBM's grafted onto them were given a weakened Zika strain, which killed off stem cells and prolonged their lives. Pei-Yong Shi, geneticist, via Gizmodo