New adenovirus and reovirus variants for oncolytic virus therapy
This project develops new tumour-killing viruses for cancer treatment. Human reoviruses and adenoviruses from non-human primates cause very limited illness in people but can kill cancer cells effectively. The latter may be particularly useful because most people have not been exposed to them and are therefore unlikely to have pre-existing immunity.
The team developed production and quality-control methods and tested twelve non-human-primate adenoviruses against 29 cell lines from glioblastoma, bladder, prostate and pancreatic cancers. All viruses killed at least some tumour cell lines, with clear differences between viruses and cancer types.
This broad testing helps researchers select the most suitable virus for an individual patient. The ultimate goal is both to destroy tumour cells and to activate an immune response that continues to recognise and attack the cancer.