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Common Virus May Help Improve Skin Cancer Treatment, Oxford Study Finds

A new study led by scientists at the University of Oxford has revealed something surprising: a common virus carried by more than half of all adults may actually help skin cancer patients respond better to treatment.

The virus in question is cytomegalovirus, or CMV. Most people who have CMV don't even know it—they don't show symptoms, and the virus stays dormant in the body for life. But this quiet virus might be doing more behind the scenes than anyone expected.

Published in Nature Medicine, the study looked at 341 patients with melanoma, a serious and sometimes deadly form of skin cancer. The patients were being treated with immunotherapy, a powerful type of cancer treatment that helps the immune system attack cancer cells.

Although immunotherapy has changed the game for many melanoma patients, it doesn't work for everyone. Some patients don't respond well to treatment, while others suffer from serious side effects.

The Oxford researchers discovered that patients who had CMV in their system were more likely to respond well to a specific type of immunotherapy, known as PD-1 therapy.

This therapy works by blocking a protein that normally tells the immune system not to attack. When this protein is turned off, immune cells called T cells can recognize and fight cancer more effectively.

Interestingly, CMV-positive patients not only responded better to this PD-1 treatment, but they also experienced fewer severe side effects, especially conditions like colitis, which is painful inflammation in the colon. This means that knowing whether a patient has CMV before starting treatment could help doctors choose the best and safest therapy option for them.

What's even more fascinating is that CMV might do more than just help with treatment. The study found that people with CMV developed metastatic melanoma—a form of the disease where the cancer spreads—later than those who didn't have the virus.

For patients who had a certain genetic mutation (called BRAF) in their tumors, the protective effect of CMV seemed even stronger.

So, how does a harmless virus help fight cancer? The researchers believe it comes down to the immune system. CMV activates a special group of immune cells known as T cells. These are the same cells that immunotherapy tries to activate to fight cancer.

Because CMV forces the body to keep its immune system ready and alert, patients who already have CMV might have immune systems that are better prepared to respond to cancer treatment.

Professor Benjamin Fairfax, who led the study, explained that these findings could help doctors tailor treatments more precisely for each patient. If someone has had CMV in the past, they might benefit from different treatment choices compared to someone who hasn't. This could lead to better results and fewer harmful side effects.

Even more importantly, this is the first time a virus that has nothing to do with cancer has been shown to affect how cancer develops and how treatments work. It raises new questions about how our immune systems are shaped by infections throughout our lives, and how that might change how we fight off diseases like cancer.

Although more research is needed to confirm these results in larger groups of patients and to understand the details of how CMV influences the immune system, the findings are exciting. They suggest that something as simple and common as a past viral infection could hold the key to improving cancer treatment and saving lives.

In summary, this study opens the door to new ways of personalizing cancer care. By taking a patient's virus history into account, doctors may be able to choose better therapies, reduce harmful side effects, and possibly even prevent cancer from returning.

It's a surprising example of how something that seems unrelated to cancer—like an old virus—might become a powerful tool in the fight against it.

If you care about skin health, please read studies about eating fish linked to higher risk of skin cancer, and Vitamin B3 could help prevent skin cancers.

For more information about health, please see recent studies about vegetable oil linked to spread of cancer, and results showing Vitamin D could help treat skin inflammation.

The research findings can be found in Nature Medicine.

Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.

Baltimore County Melanoma Survivor Finds Calling Helping Cancer Patients Through Nonprofit 'Kelly's Dream'

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One woman in Baltimore County found her purpose in life after surviving a life-threatening battle with melanoma. Kelly O'Donnell Ware has spent the last fifteen years since then helping others through their cancer treatment."

One woman in Baltimore County found her purpose in life after surviving a life-threatening battle with melanoma.

Kelly O'Donnell Ware has spent the last fifteen years helping others through their cancer treatment.

In the early 90s, Kelly O'Donnell Ware was diagnosed with skin cancer. She got treatment and continued to live a normal life until 18 years later, when she found a tumor in her groin; the skin cancer was melanoma.

"It became a serious, uh, disease, and it was considered late stage of diagnosis, so it's extremely scary learning that."

She started treatment again, but this time the doctors recommended a clinical trial since there weren't many treatment options in 2008 for melanoma.

"It's one of the hardest types of cancer to battle."

During the trials, things got worse, and she ended up with another tumor despite doctors surgically removing the first one.

She says going through treatment was the hardest thing she has ever done.

"Basically, I feel like they were buying me time, and that's hard to say. I literally had a goal to watch my daughter get her driver's license when she was 16, and she's thriving in New York, and I have two grandchildren from her, so that's just is amazing."

And as we approach melanoma awareness month in May and the warmer months of the year, she says she wants people to know the dangers of melanoma and pay attention to any changes in their skin.

"Have it looked at. It's worth it. It's peace of mind when they say, Oh, it's nothing to be concerned about. But if it is, early detection is key. That is the key to not having it go as deep and as seriously as mine did."

Ware says going through her treatment led to her creating Kelly's Dream.

"So what started as something to leave a legacy turned into a nonprofit within several years from then, and it's my proudest moment. It really is."

The non-profit is dedicated to financially helping cancer patients going through treatment.

"Are you able to put food on your table? Um, is your electricity on? Do you have transportation to get to and from treatment? Do you have your phone so the doctors, nurses, and family can check in on you? And these are important things that sometimes get forgotten."

Since Kelly's Dream is a non-profit, Ware relies on volunteers, donations, and fundraisers to help.

Kelly's Dream is hosting its 4th annual music festin June at the Eastern Yacht Club in Essex; Ware says it's their largest fundraiser of the year to help Kelly's Dream continue to support cancer patients.

Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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