Scientist reverses her stage 3 cancer with viruses she grew in a lab – after refusing to go through hell of chemo again
When Beata Halassy discovered that her stage 3 breast cancer had returned despite having undergone a mastectomy, she couldn’t bring herself to go through another brutal round of chemo.
The expert infectious disease researcher, now 53, decided to take matters into her own hands, using her decades of virology expertise to create and inject an experimental vaccine directly into the tumor in her chest.
She combined a measles virus and a flu-like pathogen to create a potent shot that attacked the tumor directly and turbocharged her immune system to kill off any remaining cancer cells.
Dr Halassy knew that her DIY experiment ran the risk of a deadly blood clot forming in her lungs or causing a different, unforeseen fatal reaction. But, miraculously, it was a success and she has been cancer-free and in remission for four years.
However, the success of the treatment has raised ethical questions that Dr Halassy and other virus experts must contend with.
She has published her glowing results in the journal Vaccines which experts fear could inspire copycats.
Dr Halassy writes: ‘The short-term and middle-term outcome of this unconventional treatment, which was devoid of any significant toxicity, was undoubtedly beneficial.’
Dr Beata Halassy developed viruses in her lab that she injected directly into the tumor in her breast. The tumor shrank and detached from her pectoral muscle, which allowed doctors to remove it more easily
Her latest bout of breast cancer in 2020 was stage three, which is considered advanced with a high chance of spreading to other parts of the body.
Dr Halassy had spent years studying viruses and, as a cancer survivor, became interested in the emerging field of oncolytic virotherapy (OVT).
This experimental therapy involves genetically engineering viruses to infect, replicate in and kill cancer cells, while sparing healthy cells.
After being injected into the site of the cancer, they break into tumor cells and burst them open, exposing their contents to the immune system.
The dying cancer cells release materials that then help the immune system recognize and attack the cancer.
Dr Halassy designed her vaccine cocktail at her lab at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.
She chose to use a measles virus and an influenza-like virus known as VSV, which have both been shown to infect the type of cell from which her tumor originated.
Dr Halassy had previous experience working with both viruses, which also have a good safety profile.
The strain of measles she chose is widely used in childhood vaccines, and the strain of VSV induces causes mild influenza-like symptoms.
Dr Halassy made the viral material herself and a colleague administered the treatments over a two-month period.
Her oncologists agreed to monitor her during the self-treatment, so that she would be able to switch to conventional chemotherapy if things went wrong.
But the approach was effective — the tumor shrank and became softer, detaching from the pectoral muscle and skin that it had been invading.
Dr Halassy said: ‘An immune response was, for sure, elicited.’
The treatment shrunk the tumor, and it detached from the pectoral muscle it had latched onto, which allowed doctors to remove it more easily. She then took an anti-cancer drug to keep the disease from returning.
Dr Halassy tried for years to get medical journals to publish her findings but received rejection after rejection.
She said: ‘The major concern was always ethical issues.’
The three panels show the tumor (measured by the two perpendicular lines) shrinking over time, making it more easily removable via surgery
Injecting the tumor directly with viruses prompted a strong immune response that helped shrink the tumor. The immune system recognizes the virus-infected tumor cells as foreign and begins attacking them
Federal health regulators have approved only one type of OVT, and it’s made to treat metastatic melanoma. However, there has not been any treatment approved for breast cancer.
Dr Halassy’s application has not been approved for widespread use.
However, oncologists and other researchers say this approach is dangerous for the layperson with cancer, who might be more inclined to try an experimental treatment.
Jacob Sherkow, a law and medicine researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who specializes in medical ethics, said he would have preferred to see a discussion of the ethical implications alongside the case report to provide more depth on the subject.
He added: ‘I think it ultimately does fall within the line of being ethical, but it isn’t a slam-dunk case.’
It’s not known how many people are taking OVTs.
Still, an estimated 623,405 patients have breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, melanoma or bladder cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and has entered stage four or five. Those people could potentially benefit from OVT.
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