The Introgen Therapeutics corporation recently announced modifying a common cold virus (adenovirus) to attack and kill cancer cells. There website has most of the details. The adenovirus was reprogrammed to go specificly after cancer cells and kill them while leaving healthy cells alone. If the therapy works (a big if) then a specific cancer cure might simply involve squirting a virus culture up one's nose and then after a couple of weeks the cancer is gone. This of course would be a medical achievement comparable to the discovery of antibiotics (I need to invest in Introgen!).

Like all technology this is double edged. If a good person could reprogram an adenovirus to kill cancer cells then a wicked person might reprogram an adenovirus to act as a carcinogen to heavily pigmented skin. A doomsday science fiction scenario is easy to cook up. A wicked scientist reprograms an adenovirus to act as a vector carrying an HIV retrovirus. The virus initially spreads like wildfire as a common cold exhibiting only mild cold-like symptoms. The adenovirus implants the HIV retrovirus with a programmed 5 year time delay. For 5 years there are no serious symptoms as every person on the planet gets infected with the mild form of the disease. Then the HIV version triggers and starts killing millions of people. Something like this could wipe out the human race.

Gary