Release date: 2018-01-10
Bourgeois-Daigneault, Samson and their colleagues show how oncolytic virus treatment improves the efficacy of subsequent immune checkpoint blockade against different cancer types. (Source: Science Translational Medicine)
Paper 1: Fight against brain tumors
In a paper entitled "Intravenous delivery of oncolytic reovirus to brain tumor patients immunologically primes for subsequent checkpoint blockade", a team from the United Kingdom and the United States found that a virus that can be injected directly into the blood, the reovirus (reovirus) ) - Can be used to treat patients with invasive brain tumors.
Image source: Science Translational Medicine
Previously, scientists have long believed that because of the presence of the blood-brain barrier, it is unlikely that a virus can enter the brain from the blood. This means that the only way for researchers to get the virus into the brain is to inject the virus directly into the brain. This is very challenging and cannot be repeated often. However, in this new study, a single dose of intravenous drip achieved the virus into the brain.
Specifically, the study included nine patients who either had cancer in other parts of the body that had spread into the brain or had fast-growing glioma (a refractory, poorly prognostic brain cancer). All patients had surgical removal of the tumor. But a few days before the operation, the patient was injected with a virus.
After the tumor was removed, the researchers collected samples to analyze whether the virus had reached the brain tumor site. The results showed that these viruses were "successful" in all patients. In addition, the presence of reovirus stimulates the body's own immune system, and white blood cells or "killer" T cells are attracted to the tumor site to attack cancer.
In addition, patients injected with reovirus have higher levels of interferon (the role is to activate the body's immune system) compared to the control sample (a tissue sample from patients who have undergone surgery but have not received viral therapy); At the same time, reovirus up-regulated the expression of interferon-regulated genes, including the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in tumors. Subsequently, the study also confirmed that in the preclinical glioma model, the addition of PD-1 blocking therapy to reovirus treatment enhanced systemic therapy.
Dr. Adel Samson, a medical oncologist at the University of Leeds in the UK who led the study, said: "This is the first discovery that a therapeutic virus can pass the blood-brain barrier. More importantly, it not only reaches the brain tumor, but also stimulates it. The body attacks the immune defenses of cancer. This opens up the possibility that this immunotherapy can be used to treat more patients with invasive brain cancer."
Image source: Leeds University
The researchers also said that reovirus therapy can be used in conjunction with other cancer therapies to make them more effective. Because the virus only infects cancer cells, it does not "disturb" healthy cells, and the treated patients report only mild flu-like side effects.
Scientists are currently investigating the effectiveness of this viral immunotherapy to prolong and improve the lives of patients with brain tumors. In an ongoing clinical trial, patients received combination therapy with radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and reovirus.
Susan Short, co-author of the paper and professor of clinical oncology at the University of Leeds, said: "We hope that the virus will have an additional role in enhancing the body's immune response to tumors, ie, increased standard treatment, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The number of tumor cells killed."
Image source: Science Translational Medicine
Paper 2: Fighting breast cancer
In another paper entitled "Neoadjuvant oncolytic virotherapy before surgery sensitizes triple-negative breast cancer to immune checkpoint therapy", researchers from the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa confirmed that the oncolytic virus (Maraba) and another immunization The combination of therapy - checkpoint inhibitors - is more successful in treating breast cancer.
The researchers tested the combination therapy in a mouse model that mimicked the spread of postoperative breast cancer metastasis. In these models, viral therapy is performed prior to surgery and checkpoint inhibitor therapy is performed after surgery. The results showed that the combination of oncolytic virus and checkpoint inhibitors cured 60%-90% of mice.
Dr. Marie-Claude Bourgeois-Daigneault, co-author and first author of the paper, said: "This is absolutely amazing. We are able to cure cancer in most experimental mice, even in mouse models that are usually very resistant to immunotherapy. Although further research is needed for testing, we believe that the same mechanisms can play a role in human cancer."
Reference materials:
Virus could treat brain tumours by boosting immune system
Could viruses take cancer immunotherapy to the next level?
Source: Bio-Exploration
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