Tumor-killing viruses score rare success in late-stage trial

Once touted as the next big thing in cancer therapy, tumor-attacking viruses have been a letdown, failing in multiple clinical trials as far back as 1949. But preliminary results from a small phase 3 study presented at a conference last week suggest these unconventional cancer treatments, known as oncolytic viruses, might work after all. The data showed that an oncolytic virus developed by Irvine, California–based CG Oncology eliminated tumors in 64% of 66 patients with bladder cancer that didn’t respond to mainline treatment. The follow-up period was only 6 months, and much more research is necessary. But even a positive phase 3 result is enough to “shake the world of oncolytic viruses,” says surgical oncologist Omeed Moaven of the Louisiana State University Medical Center. And if the promise shown in these early data holds up, the oncolytic virus could become only the second in the United States to receive regulatory approval, a milestone that would bode well for the dozens of other trials now underway. Success would also vindicate a strategy of designing the viruses to draw an immune attack on the tumor rather than only hitting malignant cells directly. “In the early days, we thought things would progress rapidly,” says virologist Grant McFadden of Arizona State University. The viruses—usually benign varieties such as the herpes simplex viruses and adenoviruses that are often modified to make them safer and more potent—can reproduce in tumor cel...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research