Common cold virus may hold breast cancer cure

A researcher from the University of Newcastle has been working on a new treatment that only affects cancer cells and not the normal body cells. Kathryn Skelding's work may be an improvement on conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which leave their impact on normal body cells too. "In theory, the viurs is able to selectively target and destroy many different types of cancer cells, including breast cancers, whilst leaving normal cells unaffected,"she said. Debilitating symptoms associated with conventional treatments-nuasea,vomiting and hair loss-could also be avoided by using the Coxsackie virus. "If this research is successful we could have something that produces side effects as harmless as a mild, common cold-like infection yet it could successfully treat breast cancer,"she said.