I contracted polio at age two (1947). It attacks the myelin sheath tissue around nerves. If the tissue in the blastoma is likened to the myelin sheath then it stands to reason it would attack that. I wonder, the girl’s age is such that she was vaccinated for polio, so the virus would not work against her tissues; but the cancer blastoma is not her tissue!
The tumor is her tissue. Mutated and reproducing out of control, but still hers.
That’s what I was thinking.
I guess it took 20 years to figure out how to give it some degree of specificity.
Being vaccinated would mean she produces antibodies to fight the virus. But if you inject the virus directly into the body, you’re asking for a fight, and some healthy tissues would be damaged in the process.
My guess is that the modified virus didn’t attack healthy cells at all. And either she wasn’t vaccinated or the antibodies didn’t recognize the modified virus.