A treatment for cervical cancer that kills tumor cells but does not harm healthy ones has been developed by British scientists.

The research was reported in the latest issue of British medical journal Oncogene published.

The technique, called RNA interference (RNAi), works by knocking out two key genes in the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes the vast majority of cases of cervical cancer, and thus effectively "silenced" the virus.

The researchers, led by Jo Milner at the University of York, believe HPV produces proteins that suppress the activity of genes in the human anti-cancer defense system. This would normally identify the start of cancer in a cell and trigger apoptosis, or cell suicide.

In test-tube experiments, knocking out the virus did lead to apoptosis, but normal cells were untouched, suggesting that RNAi treatments could lack the side effects associated with other cancer therapies, the team says.

However, they have yet to try the technique in animals or people. Paul Nurse, director of Cancer Research UK, warned that the research was at an early stage, and eliminating cancer cells in human patients might not be as straightforward.

(China Daily September 7, 2002)