Chinese scientists have developed a revolutionary cancer treatment approach that tricks the body's immune system into attacking tumors by disguising them as foreign pig tissue. This pioneering therapy, which has shown remarkable success in clinical trials, offers new hope for patients with advanced, treatment-resistant cancers.
Virus-Based Therapy Triggers "Tumor Meltdown"
The groundbreaking treatment utilizes a genetically modified herpes simplex virus, known as VG161, that can infiltrate cancer cells and mark them as foreign tissue. This triggers a hyperacute immune rejection response that specifically targets the tumors while leaving healthy cells untouched.
Early clinical trial results have been staggering, with 90 percent of patients with advanced, treatment-resistant cancers—including liver, ovarian, and lung cancers—achieving either halted tumor growth or significant shrinkage. One cervical cancer patient was declared clinically cured following the treatment.
"This approach essentially creates a 'tumor meltdown' in patients who had exhausted all conventional treatment options," said Professor Zhao Yongxiang, director of the State Key Laboratory of Targeting Oncology at Guangxi Medical University, who led the study published in the journal Cell on January 18.
Doubling Life Expectancy in Liver Cancer Patients
Researchers from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University conducted advanced clinical trials on 40 patients with liver cancer, revealing that the therapy nearly doubled life expectancy. The modified virus was able to infiltrate and dismantle drug-resistant liver tumors while simultaneously enhancing patients' immune defenses.
Dr. Liang Tingbo and his team from the hospital's hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery department reported that the therapy successfully reversed immunotherapy resistance. Their findings, published in Nature on March 20, demonstrated that previously unresponsive "cold" tumors were transformed into treatable "hot" zones.
Mechanism of Action: Turning Cancer Cells into "Pork"
The innovative approach works by genetically modifying a virus to "disguise" cancer cells as foreign pig tissue. When introduced into the body, this modified virus infects tumor cells and causes them to express pig-specific proteins on their surface.
The human immune system, which naturally rejects foreign tissue, then identifies these modified cancer cells as invasive foreign material—similar to how it would reject a pig organ transplant—and mounts an aggressive attack against them.
This mechanism is particularly valuable for treating "cold" tumors that typically evade immune detection, as it forces these cancers to become visible to the body's defense systems.
Shifting the Global Cancer Research Landscape
This breakthrough represents a significant shift in the global fight against cancer, challenging the traditional dominance of the United States and Japan in oncolytic virus research. The Chinese approach specifically targets common and deadly malignancies like liver and gastric cancers, which have particularly high prevalence in Asian populations.
"For patients once deemed untreatable, this breakthrough marks the dawn of a new era where viruses as well as medicines wage war on cancer," explained one of the researchers involved in the study. "Patients can be treated repeatedly until the disease is either controlled or cured."
Future Directions and Regulatory Pathway
The therapy has already been approved for the next stage of research under China's emergency breakthrough protocol, following the promising early trial data. This accelerated pathway reflects the treatment's potential to address significant unmet medical needs for patients with terminal cancer.
As research continues, scientists are exploring the therapy's effectiveness against additional cancer types and investigating potential combination approaches with existing treatments to further enhance outcomes.
The development represents one of the most significant advances in cancer immunotherapy in recent years and highlights China's growing role in pioneering innovative approaches to treating previously intractable diseases.
