Cancer-fighting virus shown to target tumors alone
Sep-03-2011

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-594 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.

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