University of Florida (UF) Health researchers have discovered that a rabbit virus can deliver a one-two punch, killing some kinds of cancer cells while eliminating a common and dangerous complication of bone marrow transplants. For patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and multiple myeloma, a bone marrow transplant can be both curative and perilous. It replenishes marrow lost to disease or chemotherapy, but raises the risk that newly transplanted white blood cells will attack the recipient's body. Now researchers say the myxoma virus, found in rabbits, can do double duty, both quelling the unwanted side effects of a bone marrow transplant and destroying cancer cells. The virus could be especially helpful to patients who have recurring cancer, but cannot find a suitable bone marrow donor, said Christopher R. Cogle, M.D., the study's lead investigator and an associate professor in the UF College of Medicine's Division of Hematology and Oncology. Bone marrow transplants from partially matched donors carry about an 80 percent risk of graft-versus-host disease, and the myxoma treatment would address that, Dr. Cogle said. The myxoma virus also could improve bone marrow transplant options among African-Americans and the elderly. Those patients are less likely to find fully matched bone marrow donors, which raises the risk of graft-versus-host disease, according to Dr. Cogle. "Myxoma is one of the best strategies because it is effective, but doesn't affect normal stem cells," he said. During laboratory testing on human cells, the process worked this way: the myxoma virus is attached to a type of white blood cell known as a T-cell. The virus-laden white blood cells can then be delivered as part of a bone marrow transplant from a donor. That's when the virus gets activated and goes to work.Login Or Register To Read Full Story