- A cancer-killing virus injected straight into pancreatic tumors stopped them growing in the first three patients during early trials.
- The engineered virus multiplies only inside cancer cells, making them burst and die, while leaving healthy tissue alone.
- All three patients are alive with stable disease, one of them a full year on, and researchers are now testing higher doses.
A cancer-killing virus has stopped pancreatic tumors from growing in the first three patients to receive it, an early result that raises fresh hope against one of the deadliest cancers.
The genetically engineered virus is injected directly into the tumor, where it copies itself inside cancer cells until they burst and die. Healthy tissue is left untouched, because the virus is built to target an enzyme called COX-2 that is abundant in cancer cells but scarce in normal ones.
All three patients in the safety trial are alive with stable disease months after treatment, and one remains stable a full year on. The early signs were strong enough that the team is now moving on to test higher doses.
The first patients received the virus at one-tenth of the dose researchers ultimately intend to use, yet it worked better than they expected at that level. The treatment is being delivered endoscopically, threaded directly into pancreatic tumors, in a Phase I study run by the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota.
Pancreatic cancer is often fatal within months of diagnosis, and patients usually have few options once it takes hold. It’s one of the hardest cancers to treat, with only around 10% of patients living longer than five years after diagnosis, largely because the disease is usually caught late, once it has already spread.
So, this new treatment that can hold tumors in check, even in a small first group, gives doctors something they rarely have with this disease: a reason for optimism.
The trial is still recruiting, with results expected over the coming years as the dose is raised and more patients are treated.
