--- title: Measels Vaccine Cures Cancer description: A clinical trial at Mayo Clinic cured one woman of cancer using a massive dose of Measles vaccine canonical: https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-16T17:11:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:53:42.286Z article:section: Health og:title: Massive measels vaccine dose cured one woman's cancer og:description: In a game changing study of one woman, blood cancer gets a cure og:url: https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735b9a2ca8c70e61/69868fe5adae444bb3543255/cancer-measles-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Cancer Measles Vaccine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Massive measels vaccine dose cured one woman's cancer twitter:description: In a game changing study of one woman, blood cancer gets a cure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735b9a2ca8c70e61/69868fe5adae444bb3543255/cancer-measles-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Measles Vaccine Cures Woman Of Cancer > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=21f38ee4-16a8-4e66-a396-f111cdea3888&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Markham Heid, Prevention](https://time.com/author/markham-heid-prevention/) ## Markham Heid, Prevention May 16, 2014 5:11 PM UTC  medical still life of syringes medical still life of syringes Stephen Smith—Getty Images by [Markham Heid, Prevention](https://time.com/author/markham-heid-prevention/) ## Markham Heid, Prevention May 16, 2014 5:11 PM UTC **The claim:** Mayo Clinic researchers employing “virotherapy”—or virus-based treatment—completely eradicated a 49-year-old woman’s blood cancer using an extremely heavy dose of the measles vaccine (enough to vaccinate 100 million people), according to a newly released report in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. **The research:** The study team injected two cancer patients with “the highest possible dose” of an engineered measles virus. (Past research had shown the virus was capable of killing myeloma-infected plasma cells while sparing normal tissue.) Both patients responded to the treatment and showed reductions in bone marrow cancer and myeloma protein. One of the patients, Stacy Erholtz, experienced complete remission and has been cancer-free for 6 months. **More From Prevention:** [**Medical Tests That Can Save Your Life**](http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/medical-tests-can-save-your-life?cm%5Fmmc=Time-%5F-Measles%20Vaccine%20Cures%20Woman%20of%20Cancer-%5F-Article-%5F-When%20The%20Best%20Tests%20Fail) **What it means:** This is the first study to show that this type of virotherapy may be effective when it comes to some types of cancers, says study coauthor Stephen Russell, MD, PhD, a Mayo Clinic hematologist and co-developer of the treatment. “Viruses naturally destroy tissue,” Russell explains. And the measles virus appears to cause cancer cells to group together and “explode,” which not only destroys them but also helps alert the patient’s immune system to their presence, says one of Russell’s coauthors on the study, Angela Dispenzieri, MD. While the second myeloma patient did not experience such a dramatic recovery, the virotherapy was still effective in targeting and treating sites of her tumor growth, the Mayo researchers say. **The bottom line:** The two women included in the study were chosen because their cancer had failed to respond to other treatments, and so they were out of options, the study authors say. Also, neither of the women had much previous exposure to measles, which means they had few antibodies to the virus. While a lot more work has to be done to develop the treatment for other cancer sufferers, Russell says the ultimate goal for this therapy is “a single-shot cure for cancer.” **More from Prevention:** [**20 Ways To Lower Your Cancer Risk**](http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/everyday-cancer-prevention-tips?cm%5Fmmc=Time-%5F-Measles%20Vaccine%20Cures%20Woman%20of%20Cancer-%5F-Article-%5F-20%20Ways%20To%20Lower%20Your%20Cancer%20Risk) [**The article was written by Markham Heid and originally appeared on Prevention.com**](http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/breaking-news-measles-vaccine-cures-woman-cancer?cm%5Fmmc=Time-%5F-Measles%20Vaccine%20Cures%20Woman%20of%20Cancer-%5F-Article-%5F-Measles%20Vaccine%20Cures%20Woman%20of%20Cancer) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/"},"headline":"Measles Vaccine Cures Woman Of Cancer","datePublished":"2014-05-16T17:11:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:53:42.286Z","description":"Mayo Clinic researchers have wiped out a 49-year-old Minnesota woman’s blood cancer with a radical new virus-based treatment that involved injecting her with “the highest possible dose” of a measles vaccine, suggesting virotherapy could treat some cancers","url":"https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/","keywords":["Cancer","infectious diseases"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735b9a2ca8c70e61/69868fe5adae444bb3543255/cancer-measles-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Markham Heid, Prevention","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/markham-heid-prevention/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735b9a2ca8c70e61/69868fe5adae444bb3543255/cancer-measles-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cancer Measles Vaccine","caption":"Cancer Measles Vaccine","creditText":"Stephen Smith—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/103163/measles-vaccine-cures-woman-of-cancer/","name":"Measles Vaccine Cures Woman Of Cancer"}}]}] ```