The Herpes simplex virus is a widespread virus that often causes cold sores, and most people carry it. By removing a virulence gene, i.e. a gene that makes the virus harmful to humans, the herpes virus can be repurposed as a cancer vaccine. This modification prevents the virus from harming healthy tissue while allowing it to target cancer cells, which function differently from normal cells. These findings are presented in a new doctoral thesis at Åbo Akademi University, Finland.
This article was originally published on MedicalXpress.com
