Researchers at Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Boston Massachusetts have developed a virus that boosts the immune system to fight against brain cancer. The virus was modified from a Herpes simplex virus by E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD so as to only replicate inside cells of glioblastoma (the most common type of brain cancer). Immunotherapies have not worked in fighting against glioblastoma. In a clinical trial of 41 patients with recurrent glioblastoma who were treated with the modified virus, survival outcomes increased compared to historical outcomes. The virus replicates in the infected cancer cells, destroys those cells, and then spreads to enter other cancer cells. When the researchers analyzed tumor samples from the patients they saw a sustained presence of immune T cells. The virus appeared to boost the number of T cells in the brain. To read more click here https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)01504-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867425015041%3Fshowall%3Dtrue