Ripping a hole in cancer cells invisibility cloak
Oncolytic viruses are cancer-killing viruses engineered to target and replicate in cancer cells and leave normal cells unharmed. They can also alert the immune system to attack the cancer cells.\n\nSusanne Warner, MD, is conducting research around a novel cancer-killing virus that can attack tumors in three different ways: by infecting tumor cells, by shutting down blood supply to the tumor, and by training a patient\u2019s immune system to attack the tumor.\n\nDr. Warner is also a surgical oncologist, and she has a deep interest in patient care that goes beyond the operating room \u2013 she talks at length about helping patients through their emotional and spiritual journey. \n\nSusanne Warner, MD, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology and Department of Surgery at City of Hope.\n\n2:07 \u2013 What is an oncolytic virus?\n\n3:09 \u2013 How do they find cancer cells and how do they kill them?\n\n7:17 \u2013 How do you make an oncolytic virus in the lab?\n\n8:53 \u2013 One of the ongoing debates in the scientific community about oncolytic viruses\n\n\u201cThe ideal oncolytic viruses in our opinion are potent, quickly dividing and then what we call immunogenic. And that means that the type of tumor cell destruction that they cause makes a splash, essentially, and gets the attention of the immune system so that it can mount an anti-viral response, which then is also a robust anti-tumor response if enough of those tumor cells have been destroyed and revealed themselves to the immune system.\u201d\n\n11:41 \u2013 Why the immune system doesn\u2019t just respond on its own to cancer, and how oncolytic viral therapy can rip a hole in the \u201cinvisibility cloak\u201d that cancer cells wear \n\n14:07 \u2013 The promise of clinical therapies combining immunotherapy with oncolytic virus therapy \n\n17:24 \u2013 The surgeon-patient relationship and her interest in helping patients in their spiritual and emotional journey\n\n21:55 \u2013 Her message for cancer patients and survivors\n\n25:08 \u2013 The impact of ACS funding on her career