Around 60 clinical trials are currently underway for a new form of treatment which causes ‘tumour meltdown’, according to Chinese scientists.
This innovative research has made news headlines and has been called oncolytic virus therapy.
The basis for the therapy is in using viruses which have been modified in labs. These are then used to infiltrate tumours, disarming them from the inside-out. Reports have called them ‘hidden assassins’, in that they are able to replicate themselves from within cancer cells, and then explode them as microscopic grenades.
At the same time, they are able to cause the release of valuable proteins. These specific proteins are able to fortify the immune system to be able to track down and eradicate the remaining cancer cells.
It all sounds like a secret service operation but doctors are confident that they are onto something big which could revolutionise cancer treatment. In fact, headlines read that this is the ‘next frontier’ for cancer treatment.
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A report by the National Institutes of Health highlights the ‘formidable challenge of treating cancer’, which it continues, ‘… if advanced, still remains with no significant improvement in survival rates’.
The report praises oncolytic viral therapies as having ‘great promise preclinically and in clinical trials for the treatment of various cancers’.
These oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV) strains have efficient and fast replication, and they also have an ‘impressive safety profile’, says the report. The process whereby they destroy cancerous cells is called ‘cell lysis’. This process causes destruction of the cancerous cells, while leaving non-cancerous tissue unharmed.
Constantin Levaditi (1874 – 1953), a pioneer in immunology and virology, was the first to discover that VACVs are naturally oncolytic. However, it is only in recent years that the zeal for using viruses as a strategy against cancer and tumours has been fuelled. This has been reignited as technology and scientific knowledge have advanced.
The tools we now have, including AI, can be used to engineer more effective and targeted viruses.
Clinical Trials Resume, Results Look Promising
Several oncolytic viruses continue to undergo the stringent observations and testing of clinical trials. Many have shown promising results. One of these includes talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC). This is a Herpes Simplex Virus which has been modified and which has been called an FDA-approved oncolytic virus therapy to treat advanced skin cancer.
The praises across news channels and medical reports seem unanimous; the revolutionary treatment is a ‘game-changer’. “Ongoing trials for various cancers, such as brain tumour, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer, hold the potential to open a new frontier in the fight against cancer,” says The Big News Network.