A woman suffering from an advanced form of blood cancer was declared free of the disease after being injected with a massive dose of the measles vaccine. 

U.S. doctors from the Mayo Clinic demonstrated that cancer cells can be eliminated using a genetically-engineered measles virus. The virus modification is known  as virotherapy. 

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Stacy Erholtz, 49, from Minnesota, was part of a clinical trial that the Mayo Clinic conducted last year. She has been a cancer patient for ten years and suffered from multiple myeloma, a cancer typically present in the bone marrow. It causes bone or tissue tumors. 

Erholtz has been declared clear of cancer after more than six months of participating in the clinical trial. 

According to Dr. Steven Russell, Mayo Clinic hematologist and lead of the study, they have known that viruses can act like a vaccine. 

"If you inject a virus into a tumor, you can provoke the immune system to destroy that cancer and other cancers," Russell said during an interview. 

Russell added that the procedure they used is different from other cancer treatments and trials in the past. He said the virus was put into the bloodstream, infects the body and destroys the cancer. 

Mayo Clinic's trial chose two patients with multiple myeloma because patients with this type of cancer have a compromised immune system. That means patients suffering from this type of cancer can't combat the measles virus and may have a better chance of killing the cancer cells off. 

Erholtz is one of the patients whose treatment was successful, while the other patient's multiple myeloma returned nine months after the treatment. 

Imaging studies of the clinical trial have shown that the genetically-engineered measles virus specifically targeted areas with the most tumor growth. The researchers used what they call a 'snitch gene', a gene with a marker that helps researchers identify its location in the patient's body. 

In a statement, the Mayo Clinic said its researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of virotherapy. The process destroys the cancer using a virus, while sparing normal tissues from any damage. 

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic are now gearing up for the trial's second phase which would involve more patients. It aims to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within four years.

TagsMeasles Virus, Cancer Cure, Mayo Clinic, Multiple Myeloma