Genetic sleuthing uncovers a rare case of cancer caused by a virus administered as part of a child’s treatment for a genetic disorder.
21 May 2026
Genetic sleuthing uncovers a rare case of cancer caused by a virus administered as part of a child’s treatment for a genetic disorder.
Particles of adeno-associated virus (artist’s illustration) ferried a treatment into the cells of a child with a rare genetic disease. Credit: Louise Hughes/Science Photo Library
A mysterious brain tumour in a five-year-old boy has been linked to the potentially life-saving gene therapy he received four years earlier1.
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Researchers report first cancer caused by virus widely used to deliver genes, but say risk is low
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Some children have already died and only a minority who inherit the mutation will escape cancer in their lifetimes.
The personalized treatment encourages the immune system to attack the tumours called glioblastomas.
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