Cancer-Fighting Virus Shown to Target Tumors Alone

StephenW

Cancer-Fighting Virus Shown to Target Tumors Alone   by Deena Beasley, Last updated September 01, 2011   
                       
                                                    
                                                
  
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Researchers have shown for the first time that a single intravenous infusion of a genetically engineered virus can home in on cancer, killing tumor cells in patients without harming healthy tissue.
Scientists have been intrigued for decades with the idea of using viruses to alert the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. That interest has taken off in recent years as advances in genetic engineering allow them to customize viruses that target tumors.
The field received a boost in January when biotech giant Amgen Inc agreed to pay up to $1 billion for BioVex, the developer of experimental cancer-fighting virus OncoVex. But the only "oncolytic virus" so far approved by a regulatory agency is for treatment of head and neck cancer in China.
In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, scientists at institutions including the University of Ottawa and privately held biotech company Jennerex Inc said a small, early-stage trial of experimental viral therapy JX-954 found that it consistently infected tumors with only minimal and temporary side effects.
The experimental virus will next be tested in a mid-stage trial of patients with liver cancer.
"With chemotherapy you get drastic side effects," said Dr. John Bell, chief scientific officer at Jennerex and senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. &quotatients on this treatment only had 24-hour flu symptoms, and nothing after that."
The trial, which involved 23 patients with various types of advanced cancer, was designed to assess the safety of JX-954. It also found that six of the eight patients given the two highest doses saw their tumors stabilize or shrink.
Seven patients in that group, or 87 percent, had evidence of viral replication in their tumors, but not in normal tissues.
Dr. Bell said the next step is a Phase 2b trial of the viral therapy in 120 patients with primary liver cancer, known as hepatocellular carcinoma.
He said earlier trials of JX-954 showed really strong activity in liver cancer. Since some kinds of liver cancer are caused by viruses—like hepatitis B—the theory is that those tumor cells may be more susceptible to a second virus.
   




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StephenW

谷歌翻译
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洛杉矶（路透社） - 研究人员已经显示为一个单一的基因工程病毒的静脉输液，可以在家中对癌症，杀死患者的肿瘤细胞，而不伤害健康组织的第一次。
几十年来使用病毒警报寻找和摧毁癌细胞的免疫系统的想法，科学家们一直感兴趣。这种兴趣已在近年来随着基因工程的进步，让他们自订目标肿瘤病毒。
外地收到一月份的提高，生物技术巨头安进公司时BioVex，开发实验抗癌病毒OncoVex同意支付10亿美元。但到目前为止，由监管机构批准的唯一的“溶瘤病毒”在中国的头部和颈部癌症的治疗。
在日（星期三）在“自然”杂志上发表的一项研究，包括渥太华大学和私人持有的生物技术公司Jennerex公司机构的科学家说，一个小的，早期的实验病毒治疗JX - 954的试用发现，它始终只有很少感染肿瘤临时副作用。
接下来将进行测试实验病毒在中期阶段试验的肝癌患者。
Jennerex 和 渥太华医院研究所的高级科学家的首席科学官“，与化疗，你副作用很大，博士说：”贝尔，。 “这种治疗的病人只有24小时后出现流感症状，并没有什么。”
经审讯，其中涉及23例各类晚期癌症患者，旨在评估JX - 954的安全性。还发现，两个最高剂量的8例患者中的6个看到他们的肿瘤稳定或缩小。
七组，或87％，患者的肿瘤病毒复制的证据，但不是在正常组织中。
贝尔博士说，下一步是一种病毒治疗120例原发性肝癌，被称为原发性肝癌，2b期试验。
他说，JX - 954的早期试验表明，在肝癌的真正强大的活动。由于某些种类是由类病毒引起肝癌的乙肝的理论是，这些肿瘤细胞可能会较第二病毒。