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Researchers have now reprogrammed Herpes simplex virus, which can be used to fight certain types of cancers like breast and ovarian cancers that have spread to other parts of the body. They say that the modified virus doesn't harm healthy cells, but only attacks the cancerous ones.

Herpes simplex viruses are known to cause a disease called Herpes, which is a sexually transmitted disease that causes sores and blisters around the mouth or genital areas.

The present study was conducted by researchers from the University of Bologna, Italy. Although there are many kinds of treatments available now for cancers, these treatments carry a significant risk of side-effects that lower the quality of life for cancer survivors.

Researchers designed the new cancer-killing Herpes virus' entry apparatus and changed it so that the virus doesn't harm the healthy cells that are usually attacked by the wild type of the virus. Instead, the new virus attacks only the cancer cells that have higher activation of HER-2 gene.

Many studies have tried to find a suitable anti-cancer agent against tumor cells that over-express HER-2 gene. Non-tumor breast cancer cells have two copies of HER-2 gene, which is enough to produce normal growth of the tissue. Some breast cancer tumor cells produce many copies of this gene that in turn creates many receptors, according to National Cancer Institute. About a quarter of all breast cancer cells overexpress HER-2. These cancers aren't just aggressive and difficult to treat, but also have a high incidence of coming back after treatments.

"Numerous laboratories worldwide are using viruses as more specific weapons against cancer cells, called oncolytic viruses," said Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume, Professor of Microbiology and Virology.

The study on the reprogrammed Herpes simplex virus shows that the virus can be used to treat late-stage cancers that have spread to other parts of the body.

"Safety concerns prevailed so far, and all oncolytic herpesviruses now in clinical trials are debilitated viruses, effective only against a fraction of tumors. We were the first to obtain a herpes virus reprogrammed to enter HER-2-positive tumor cells, unable to infect any other cell, yet preserves the full-blown killing capacity of the wild-type HSV," said Campadelli-Fiume, who is the lead author of the study.

The study is published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.