Researchers in Canada have detected a novel oncolytic viral therapy against prostate cancer with use of a virus called the reovirus, according to study results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The respiratory, enteric, orphan virus (commonly known as reovirus) is a non-attenuated, environmental virus that has shown oncolytic potential against many types of cancer, specifically lymphoid, ovarian, breast, pancreatic and high grade glioma cancer, according to the study. This is the first time the virus has been studied against prostate cancer.
"The reovirus is a very common, ubiquitous virus that most people are exposed to. As far as we know, it doesn't cause any significant illness in humans, even though when someone is exposed to it, it manifests, at most, as a mild respiratory infection or mild diarrhea," said researcher Don Morris, M.D., Ph.D., medical oncologist in the Department of Oncology at the Tom Baker Cancer Center in Alberta, Canada.
"For the treatment of localized prostate cancer, we found that the reovirus is safe and has evidence of specific tumor vs. normal prostate cell efficacy," added Morris.
Using preclinical and clinical settings, Morris and colleagues examined the efficacy of the reovirus as an experimental therapeutic for prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. Among the six patients who participated in the study, all had early-stage, organ-confined prostate cancer. Each patient underwent a single intralesional virus injection into a suitable prostate cancer nodule via transrectal ultrasound guidance. Three weeks later, Morris and colleagues removed the prostate as part of the patient's standard treatment for correlative science analysis.