Housecall for Health: Using HIV to Treat Cancer

There may be a new treatment for leukemia in the form of a virus.  Genetically-modified HIV has helped cure a 7-year-old of the disease.

FOX’s Colleen Cappon reports in today’s “Housecall for Health”:

A new gene therapy is giving hope of eradicating cancer.  Using a disabled version of the HIV virus, University of Pennsylvania scientists altered the T-cells of 7-year-old leukemia patient Emily Whitehead.

The cells were effective in attacking cancer cells, but caused unmanageable flu-like symptoms.  Doctors discovered giving her a new rheumatoid arthritis drug was able to save her.  They say it’s a huge breakthrough in a possible cure for leukemia.

Housecall for Health, I’m Colleen Cappon, FOX News Radio.