At ACGT’s Scientific Symposium in April, a panel of experts presented findings and the remarkable results of research and trials using measles, polio and rabies viruses, as well as the herpes virus to treat all different types of cancers.
Imlygic, from Amgen, is the first gene therapy treatment approved in the U.S. The treatment uses a genetically modified herpes simplex virus to destroy cancer cells in advanced stage and recurrent melanoma, a deadly and increasingly common cancer. Oncolytic Viral [OV] therapies promise a novel approach, with over 3,500 viruses as potential therapeutic agents. Oncolytic viruses can be altered in the lab so that they infect and kill mainly cancer cells, alert the immune system to attack the cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone. Imlygic, also known as T-VEC, is an oncolytic virus that can treat melanomas in the skin or lymph nodes that can’t be removed with surgery. The virus is injected directly into the tumors, typically every 2 weeks, to shrink these tumors, Side effects can include flu-like symptoms and pain at the injection site.
Many ACGT scientists are pioneers in the field of oncolytic viral therapy and ACGT grants have helped move the science forward. The challenge for the future of these treatments will be matching the virus to the specific cancer type, and then teaching viral agents to bypass the sensors within the cancers that inhibit treatment.