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Ottawa researchers have launched a clinical trial that seeks to use the combined power of two different viruses to initiate an immune system attack and direct viral assault on the cancer cells of patients with advanced tumours.
The clinical trial, which will be led by The Ottawa Hospital, is the first in the world to deploy two viruses at the same time in a biological siege against cancer cells.
It will use modified versions of the Maraba virus — first isolated from Brazilian sandflies — in combination with the Adenovirus, derived from the common cold virus.
“By using two types of viruses, or multiple types of biological agents, you’re really attacking the cancer in multiple ways at the same time,” explained Dr. John Bell, a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, and one of the researchers who developed the therapy.”It doesn’t give cancer cells a chance to escape. And so the chances of success are much higher.”
Viruses are ancient, highly-evolved infectious agents that can take over and destroy cells. For more than century, scientists have sought to harness that power in the fight against cancer cells, which can replicate wildly, but are strangely vulnerable to infection.
Only in recent years, however, have scientists come to understand how viruses work on a molecular level. That has given them the ability to engineer viruses, safe enough to test on humans, that also know how to seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Three of the researchers involved in the clinical trial — Dr. Bell, Dr. David Stojdl and Dr. Brian Lichty — began investigating cancer-fighting viruses when they worked together at The Ottawa Hospital 15 years ago. The clinical trial, unveiled Friday, is the culmination of their enduring collaboration.
“We found that when normal cells become cancerous, it’s like they are making a deal with the devil,” Bell said. “They acquire genetic mutations that allow them to grow very quickly, but these same mutations also make them more susceptible to viruses.”
The clinical trial, which is scheduled to run until November 2017, will enroll up to 79 patients whose cancerours tumours have resisted conventional treatment, such as chemotherapy. Some of the patients will receive only one of the viruses, but most will receive both in doses administered two weeks apart.
It will take up to a year after the end of the trial for researchers to analyze all of their data and publish results.
“We’re very excited about this first clinical trial,” said Dr. David Stojdl, now senior scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.
If the clinical trial is able to duplicate the results that researchers have realized in mice models, Dr. Stojdl said, it holds “profound implications” for the treatment of cancer. “The potential is staggering,” he said.
Adult patients are now being sought for participation in the clinical trial, he said, which will concentrate on people with solid tumours. Researchers also want to find patients whose cancer cells express a specific protein, MAGE-A3, that make them vulnerable to the engineered viruses. More than 30 per cent of cancerous tumours express the protein.
“We’re continuing to push very hard to develop a suite of biological therapies with the goal of launching similar trials tailored to other types of tumours, including brain cancer and several devastating childhood cancers,” said Stojdl.
Hospitals in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Vancouver will take part in the clinical trial, which is being funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
At The Ottawa Hospital, patients have already started to be enrolled. Among them is Christina Moniker, 75, a former nurse from Rockland, who was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy, but the cancer spread to her lungs. Moniker, who enrolled in the clinical trial after completing another 30 rounds of chemotherapy, was treated last month with one of the viruses.
“The nausea of chemotherapy was worse than I ever could have imagined, but with the viral therapy I just felt like I had the flu for a couple of days, and the symptoms were easily managed,” Moniker said. “It is too soon to know if I may have benefited from this therapy, but I’m very glad to contribute to this important research that could improve care for others.”
Around the world, scientists are in a race to develop genetically modified viruses and other biological agents that target and kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Many therapies in development also seek to leverage the power of the body’s own immune system against cancers.
The clinical trial, announced Friday, hopes to deploy both tactics.
“The idea behind this trial is to use the Adenovirus to prime the patient’s immune system to recognize their cancer, and then use the Maraba virus to directly kill their cancer and further stimulate their immune system to prevent the cancer coming back,” said Dr. Brian Lichty, associate professor at McMaster University. “We’re enthusiastic about the potential of this unique therapy.”
The field of research is now known as biotherapy or immunotherapy. For cancer patients, it holds out hope of a new and powerful treatment — one that could be much easier to tolerate than chemotherapy or radiation.
One virus-based therapy, known as T-VEC, is now awaiting approval in both the United States and Europe. Produced by the biopharmaceutical company, Amgen, T-VEC uses a modified herpes simplex virus to attack and kill cancer cells while also triggering an immune system response. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide whether to approve the therapy in October.
查看原文...
The clinical trial, which will be led by The Ottawa Hospital, is the first in the world to deploy two viruses at the same time in a biological siege against cancer cells.
It will use modified versions of the Maraba virus — first isolated from Brazilian sandflies — in combination with the Adenovirus, derived from the common cold virus.
“By using two types of viruses, or multiple types of biological agents, you’re really attacking the cancer in multiple ways at the same time,” explained Dr. John Bell, a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, and one of the researchers who developed the therapy.”It doesn’t give cancer cells a chance to escape. And so the chances of success are much higher.”
Viruses are ancient, highly-evolved infectious agents that can take over and destroy cells. For more than century, scientists have sought to harness that power in the fight against cancer cells, which can replicate wildly, but are strangely vulnerable to infection.
Only in recent years, however, have scientists come to understand how viruses work on a molecular level. That has given them the ability to engineer viruses, safe enough to test on humans, that also know how to seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Three of the researchers involved in the clinical trial — Dr. Bell, Dr. David Stojdl and Dr. Brian Lichty — began investigating cancer-fighting viruses when they worked together at The Ottawa Hospital 15 years ago. The clinical trial, unveiled Friday, is the culmination of their enduring collaboration.
“We found that when normal cells become cancerous, it’s like they are making a deal with the devil,” Bell said. “They acquire genetic mutations that allow them to grow very quickly, but these same mutations also make them more susceptible to viruses.”
The clinical trial, which is scheduled to run until November 2017, will enroll up to 79 patients whose cancerours tumours have resisted conventional treatment, such as chemotherapy. Some of the patients will receive only one of the viruses, but most will receive both in doses administered two weeks apart.
It will take up to a year after the end of the trial for researchers to analyze all of their data and publish results.
“We’re very excited about this first clinical trial,” said Dr. David Stojdl, now senior scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.
If the clinical trial is able to duplicate the results that researchers have realized in mice models, Dr. Stojdl said, it holds “profound implications” for the treatment of cancer. “The potential is staggering,” he said.
Adult patients are now being sought for participation in the clinical trial, he said, which will concentrate on people with solid tumours. Researchers also want to find patients whose cancer cells express a specific protein, MAGE-A3, that make them vulnerable to the engineered viruses. More than 30 per cent of cancerous tumours express the protein.
“We’re continuing to push very hard to develop a suite of biological therapies with the goal of launching similar trials tailored to other types of tumours, including brain cancer and several devastating childhood cancers,” said Stojdl.
Hospitals in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Vancouver will take part in the clinical trial, which is being funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
At The Ottawa Hospital, patients have already started to be enrolled. Among them is Christina Moniker, 75, a former nurse from Rockland, who was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy, but the cancer spread to her lungs. Moniker, who enrolled in the clinical trial after completing another 30 rounds of chemotherapy, was treated last month with one of the viruses.
“The nausea of chemotherapy was worse than I ever could have imagined, but with the viral therapy I just felt like I had the flu for a couple of days, and the symptoms were easily managed,” Moniker said. “It is too soon to know if I may have benefited from this therapy, but I’m very glad to contribute to this important research that could improve care for others.”
Around the world, scientists are in a race to develop genetically modified viruses and other biological agents that target and kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Many therapies in development also seek to leverage the power of the body’s own immune system against cancers.
The clinical trial, announced Friday, hopes to deploy both tactics.
“The idea behind this trial is to use the Adenovirus to prime the patient’s immune system to recognize their cancer, and then use the Maraba virus to directly kill their cancer and further stimulate their immune system to prevent the cancer coming back,” said Dr. Brian Lichty, associate professor at McMaster University. “We’re enthusiastic about the potential of this unique therapy.”
The field of research is now known as biotherapy or immunotherapy. For cancer patients, it holds out hope of a new and powerful treatment — one that could be much easier to tolerate than chemotherapy or radiation.
One virus-based therapy, known as T-VEC, is now awaiting approval in both the United States and Europe. Produced by the biopharmaceutical company, Amgen, T-VEC uses a modified herpes simplex virus to attack and kill cancer cells while also triggering an immune system response. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide whether to approve the therapy in October.
查看原文...
