Using HIV to cure cancer

HIV and cancer are both awful and have serious health impacts. None of us would like to be affected by either one of those, but it seems that putting them together may actually result in something useful. Scientists from the French CNRS institute think we can transform HIV into a tool that helps us fight cancer. It is an interesting idea that helps make something good out of something bad.

Modification
Of course, wildtype HIV variants are not quite suitable for any medical use, because they are only out to multiply themselves and do not do anything useful for us. That is why the French scientists modified the genetic basis of the virus, in order to make it suitable for their experimental cancer therapy. In short, they built in a human gene, called dCK, that functions as a blueprint for a protein capable of activating various cancer drugs. Administering this protein, that functions as an enzyme, together with an anti-cancer drug is therefore needed for some treatment strategies.

dCK protein structure.

Mutation and replication
One of the key characteristics of viruses is that they rapidly mutate. That is why, for example, there is an outbreak of the flu each year. Because the virus that causes it mutates, our current vaccines will be rendered largely ineffective next year. Due to the fact that HIV mutates so rapidly, it has been proven hard to find an actual cure for AIDS. However, the virus' replication and mutation mechanisms are a seemingly useful asset for the French scientists. That is because the aforementioned dCK gene that was built into the modified form of HIV will, as a consequence, also mutate, resulting in mutated forms. And that is exactly what they want.

Efficacy
After letting the modified HIV replicate and mutate for a while, the scientists were provided with a library of about 80 different, mutated dCK proteins. After testing each one of them, they found a mutated form that is more effective than the natural form in enabling cancer drugs to do their job. In fact, by administering this particular mutated dCK protein, the scientists needed only 1/300 of the normal dose required to kill a bunch of laboratory-grown cancer cells. This radical increase in efficacy can be attributed to the HIV-produced dCK protein, showing that the virus can be of benefit to us. Hopefully the same trick can be applied to other forms of treatment as well.

A 3D-model of HIV. (source)