First Human Patient Receives Dose Of Cancer-Killing Virus In Promising New Trial

Poised to be a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer, a research company and clinical stage immuno-oncology firm recently announced the first dose of a novel cancer-killing virus has been administered to a patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial. 

City of Hope and Imugene Limited said the first stage of the trial was primarily focused on evaluating the safety of the procedure comprising a particular virus, CF33-hNIS VAXINIA, which has shown promising results of shrinking colon, lung, breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer tumors in preclinical and animal tests.

“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,” explained Daneng Li, MD, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor of City of Hope’s Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research. 

“Now is the time to further enhance the power of immunotherapy, and we believe CF33-hNIS has the potential to improve outcomes for our patients in their battle with cancer,” he added.

To create the cancer-killing virus therapy, researchers had to genetically modify naturally-occurring viruses to infect, replicate in, and kill cancer cells, with the important task of avoiding healthy cells altogether. 

While, at the moment, immune checkpoint inhibitors are a popular choice of treatment, the companies said it often resulted in patients relapsing or no longer responding to the procedure. Fortunately, early research suggests that injecting cancer-killing viruses could be the answer to priming the immune system and making it more receptive to immunotherapy. 

For starters, patients participating in the Phase 1 trial will receive a low dose of the CF33-hNIS virus, either as an injection directly into the tumors or intravenously. 

Once the procedure has been determined to be safe, new participants will receive a dose of the cancer-killing virus together with permbrolizumab immunotherapy, an antibody that beefs up the body’s immune system against cancer-causing cells. 

Going forward, the study hopes to recruit 100 patients across 10 trial sites in both the United States and Australia. 

“The dosing of the first patient in our Vaxinia study is a significant milestone for Imugene and clinicians faced with the challenge of treatment for metastatic advanced solid tumors,” said Leslie Chong, MD, CEO of Imugene.

“In addition to the positive preclinical results, we’re incredibly eager to unlock the potential of Vaxinia and the oncolytic virotherapy platform.” 

[via ScienceAlert and City of Hope, cover image via Oleg Dudko | Dreamstime.com]