Killing cancer with a breakthrough therapy | 60 Minutes Full Episodes

Introduction

The video introduces the topic of cancer research and highlights the limitations of current treatments. It then introduces an experimental therapy at Duke University that uses polio to infect tumors.

Cancer Research Limitations

• The long war on cancer has left us well short of victory.

• Radiation and chemotherapy have only added a few more months of life after 100 years of research.

Experimental Therapy at Duke University

• Researchers are infecting tumors with polio to awaken the power of the body's immune system.

• Patients at Duke University have used words like "miracle" and "cure" to describe their experience with this therapy.

• Nancy Justice, a patient with glioblastoma, is about to receive this treatment as her last chance for survival.

Nancy's Story

This section provides background information on Nancy Justice, her diagnosis, and previous treatments. It also highlights the aggressive nature of glioblastoma and how time is short when it returns.

Background Information

• Nancy was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2012.

• She underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation which bought her two and a half years before the tumor returned.

Aggressive Nature of Glioblastoma

• Glioblastoma can double in size every two weeks.

• When it returns, time is short - doctors gave Nancy seven months but good ones maybe just three or four.

Polio Treatment Procedure

This section describes the procedure for administering polio into Nancy's tumor.

Administering Polio into Tumor

• Polio will be dripped into Nancy's brain tumor using a catheter inserted during surgery.

• The infusion will be slow - half a teaspoon took six and a half hours.

• If this works, Nancy will not need any more surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation.

Nancy's Attitude

This section highlights Nancy's positive attitude towards the experimental therapy and her hope for the future.

Positive Attitude

• Nancy is taking it one day at a time.

• She sees herself as a medical explorer and hopes that her experience can give others hope.

Hope for the Future

• Greg, Nancy's husband, hopes to see their sons graduate from college, get married, and have grandchildren.

Surgery to Insert Path for Polio Virus

This section describes the intricate surgery performed by Dr. John Sampson to insert a path for the polio virus into Nancy's tumor.

Intricate Surgery

• Dr. John Sampson used 3D MRIs to plot his course.

• He had to navigate between vital functions in Nancy's body to reach the center of the tumor.

• The catheter had to be placed precisely like a sniper's bullet so that it hits its target without causing harm.

Polio Infusion Results

This section describes how Duke University doctors are monitoring the results of polio infusion in patients like Nancy Justice.

Monitoring Results

• In a few months, doctors will take another MRI scan to see which is stronger - glioblastoma or polio.

• The number of calls about this experimental therapy is increasing.

• Several members of Duke University's polio team have a financial stake in this study.

The Promise of Polio Virus Therapy

Dr. Matthias Grohmeyer has been working on a therapy that uses the polio virus to kill cancer for 25 years. After repairing the virus with a harmless bit of cold virus, it can't cause paralysis or death in normal cells but does so in cancer cells.

• Dr. Grohmeyer's colleagues thought using polio was too dangerous, but he chose it because it seeks out and attaches to a receptor found on the surface of nearly every kind of solid tumor.

• Duke went to the FDA for approval, which took seven years of safety studies and tests on 39 monkeys to prove they didn't get polio.

• Stephanie Lipscomb was the first human trial patient with recurrent glioblastoma who had no other options except this new therapy.

How Polio Virus Therapy Works

The modified polio virus removes a protective shield around tumors that makes them invisible to the immune system, enabling it to attack.

• After Stephanie's infusion, her immune system awakened and went to war against her cancer because cancers develop a shroud of protective measures that make them invisible to the immune system.

• By infecting the tumor with the modified virus, we are removing this protective shield and enabling the immune system to come in and attack.

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