First Patient Injected With Experimental Cancer-Killing Virus in New Clinical Trial

An experimental cancer-killing virus has been administered to a human patient for the first time, with hopes the testing will ultimately reveal evidence of a new means of successfully fighting cancer tumors in people’s bodies.

In the case of CF33-hNIS, the modified pox virus works by entering cells and duplicating itself. Eventually, the infected cell bursts, releasing thousands of new virus particles that act as antigens, stimulating the immune system to attack nearby cancer cells.

Previous research in animal models has shown the drug can harness the immune system in this way to hunt and destroy cancer cells, but up until now no testing has been done in humans.

That’s just changed, with co-developers of the drug – the City of Hope cancer care and research center in Los Angeles, and Australia-based biotech company Imugene – now announcing that the first clinical trial in human patients is underway.

“Our previous research demonstrated that oncolytic viruses can stimulate the immune system to respond to and kill cancer, as well as stimulate the immune system to be more responsive to other immunotherapies,” says City of Hope oncologist and principal investigator Daneng Li.

Unlocking that potential will first depend on showing that CF33-hNIS is safe for people to take, with the first phase of the trial focusing on the safety and tolerability of the drug.

The intervention is expected to enroll 100 participants in total, each being an adult patient with metastatic or advanced solid tumors who has previously tried at least two prior lines of standard treatment.

Once enrolled in the trial, these individuals will receive low doses of the experimental treatment via direct injection or intravenously.

If early results are successful and CF33-hNIS is deemed safe and well tolerated, additional tests will investigate how the drug pairs with pembrolizumab, an existing antibody treatment already used in cancer immunotherapy.

The version of the virus now being clinically trialed produces human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS), a protein that enables researchers to image and monitor viral replication, as well as allowing an additional way to damage the cancer cells by adding radioactive iodine.

Before efficacy is determined, however, researchers will first be looking to see how well the drug is handled by patients, recording the frequency and severity of any adverse effects, and also investigating how well participants fare as low doses are escalated.

By Peter Dockrill

https://www.sciencealert.com/first-patient-injected-with-experimental-cancer-killing-virus-in-new-clinical-trial