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Mayo Clinic Study May Have Found Possible Cure To Certain Cancer

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A new groundbreaking study at the Mayo Clinic may have found a potential "cure" for some types of cancer.

Forty-nine-year-old Stacy Erholtz has myeloma, a type of cancer found in bone marrow.

She agreed to be part of the Mayo Clinic's groundbreaking study.

Doctors say Erholtz's cancer has gone into complete remission and has been clear of the disease for more than six months, after doctors gave her a high dosage of the measles vaccine.

The study was conducted on two patients, with the second patient showing a reduction of bone marrow cancer and myeloma protein. Still, doctors say her cancer did not respond as well to the virus treatment as Erholtz.

Researchers say they focused on these two patients for the study because they were the first two studied at the highest possible dose, had limited exposure to measles and didn't have any treatment options left.

The Mayo is planning a larger study next fall to see whether the measles vaccine treatment is effective for a larger number of patients.

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