A massive dose of the measles vaccine, enough to inoculate ten million people, wiped out a Minnesota woman's incurable blood cancer.
Stacy Erholtz, 49-year-old mother and a resident of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, USA, suffered from myeloma—a blood cancer that strikes the bone marrow with malignant blood plasma cells. With few options at hand , she signed up for an experimental virotherapy trial with doctors at the Mayo Clinic.
The Mayo Clinic conducted the clinical trial last year using virotherapy. The method discovered the measles virus wiped out multiple myeloma cancer calls. Researchers engineered the measles virus (MV-NIS) in a single intravenous dose, making it selectively toxic to cancer cells.
"My mindset was I didn't have any other options available, so why wouldn't I do it? I had to have failed all conventional treatment to do that trial. That actually happened last March," said Erholtz. "It was the easiest treatment by far with very few side effects. I hope it's the future of treating cancer infusion."
Mayo Clinic doctors injected Erholtz with 100 billion units of an engineered measles virus (MV-NIS), enough for about 10 million doses of vaccine. At that point, she felt as if she had nothing to lose.
According to Dr. Steven Russell, a Mayo Clinic hematologist, the engineered virus had previously been tested in mice, the treatment marked the first time they tried it on human subjects.
Dr. Russell believes it's still a medical milestone, and he hopes his team can one day transform this research into a single shot cure.
Patients interested in the upcoming clinic trial using measles vaccines to treat cancer can inquire here.
Watch: Measles Virus as a Cancer Fighter - Mayo Clinic
Stacy Erholtz, 49-year-old mother and a resident of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, USA, suffered from myeloma—a blood cancer that strikes the bone marrow with malignant blood plasma cells. With few options at hand , she signed up for an experimental virotherapy trial with doctors at the Mayo Clinic.
The Mayo Clinic conducted the clinical trial last year using virotherapy. The method discovered the measles virus wiped out multiple myeloma cancer calls. Researchers engineered the measles virus (MV-NIS) in a single intravenous dose, making it selectively toxic to cancer cells.
"My mindset was I didn't have any other options available, so why wouldn't I do it? I had to have failed all conventional treatment to do that trial. That actually happened last March," said Erholtz. "It was the easiest treatment by far with very few side effects. I hope it's the future of treating cancer infusion."
Mayo Clinic doctors injected Erholtz with 100 billion units of an engineered measles virus (MV-NIS), enough for about 10 million doses of vaccine. At that point, she felt as if she had nothing to lose.
According to Dr. Steven Russell, a Mayo Clinic hematologist, the engineered virus had previously been tested in mice, the treatment marked the first time they tried it on human subjects.
Dr. Russell believes it's still a medical milestone, and he hopes his team can one day transform this research into a single shot cure.
Patients interested in the upcoming clinic trial using measles vaccines to treat cancer can inquire here.
Watch: Measles Virus as a Cancer Fighter - Mayo Clinic
