Tumor-Melting Virus vs. Prostate Cancer
Tumor-Melting Virus vs. Prostate Cancer
March 9, 2010 - A virus that destroys cancer cells but leaves normal cells unharmed works against prostate cancer, a human study shows.
The virus also blasts lymphoid, colon, ovarian, breast, pancreatic, brain, lung, head and neck, and other cancer cells.
The virus is called reovirus, and nearly everyone has been infected with it. But almost nobody notices, because at worst, the virus causes mild flu-like symptoms. But when it infects cancer cells, reovirus is a tiger.
For nearly a decade, researchers have been looking for ways to exploit reovirus as a nontoxic cancer treatment. Now a new study takes that search one step closer to reality.
Six prostate cancer patients at Canada's Tom Baker Cancer Center had the virus injected directly into their prostate tumors by Don G. Morris, MD, PhD, and colleagues. The patients then had their prostate glands removed by previously scheduled surgery.
"The beauty of the prostate study is that we gave one injection, and by three weeks later we had the entire prostate gland to look at. So we could inject the virus into a nest of tumor cells and see what it did," Morris tells WebMD.
What it did was trigger the cancer cells' self-destruct program. All around the injection site, the reovirus -- a product from Oncolytics Biotech Inc. called Reolysin -- made cancer cells go away. Normal cells were not harmed.
The downside was that the virus did not spread throughout the prostate. Cancer cells not in the immediate area of the injection were spared.
"I don't think it is a dead end. What these studies have done is give us enough ammunition to go to regulators and say, 'Here is data that prostate cancer is an attractive target for reovirus,'" Morris says. "And we have a lot of safety data showing it is safe to give intravenously."
Putting reovirus into the bloodstream would allow it to reach cancers throughout the body, not just at the site of injection. But there's a big hurdle to overcome: After the first injection, the body mounts immune responses that eliminate the virus.
Assess Your Risk for the 5 Most Common Cancers
The virus also blasts lymphoid, colon, ovarian, breast, pancreatic, brain, lung, head and neck, and other cancer cells.
The virus is called reovirus, and nearly everyone has been infected with it. But almost nobody notices, because at worst, the virus causes mild flu-like symptoms. But when it infects cancer cells, reovirus is a tiger.
For nearly a decade, researchers have been looking for ways to exploit reovirus as a nontoxic cancer treatment. Now a new study takes that search one step closer to reality.
Six prostate cancer patients at Canada's Tom Baker Cancer Center had the virus injected directly into their prostate tumors by Don G. Morris, MD, PhD, and colleagues. The patients then had their prostate glands removed by previously scheduled surgery.
"The beauty of the prostate study is that we gave one injection, and by three weeks later we had the entire prostate gland to look at. So we could inject the virus into a nest of tumor cells and see what it did," Morris tells WebMD.
What it did was trigger the cancer cells' self-destruct program. All around the injection site, the reovirus -- a product from Oncolytics Biotech Inc. called Reolysin -- made cancer cells go away. Normal cells were not harmed.
The downside was that the virus did not spread throughout the prostate. Cancer cells not in the immediate area of the injection were spared.
"I don't think it is a dead end. What these studies have done is give us enough ammunition to go to regulators and say, 'Here is data that prostate cancer is an attractive target for reovirus,'" Morris says. "And we have a lot of safety data showing it is safe to give intravenously."
Putting reovirus into the bloodstream would allow it to reach cancers throughout the body, not just at the site of injection. But there's a big hurdle to overcome: After the first injection, the body mounts immune responses that eliminate the virus.
Assess Your Risk for the 5 Most Common Cancers
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