Using cancer cells to fight cancer

Here’s a neat idea reported on by The Scientist.

“Five years ago, scientists at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City showed that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) could both colonize new metastases and travel back to their tumors of origin. Taking advantage of this bidirectional CTC movement, researchers at the University of New Mexico and their colleagues injected mice with CTCs that were genetically modified (GM) to express an anticancer cytokine. In a mouse study, the researchers found that these GM CTCs were able to home to tumors and release the cytokine, leading to decreased tumor growth. The results, published February 8th in PNAS, suggest cancer cells may be useful tools for anticancer therapies.”