UCLA researchers in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology have developed a novel zika virus-based oncolytic therapy to treat brain cancer.
BACKGROUND:
Glioma is a type of brain tumor that accounts for 80% of all primary malignant brain tumors. Standard therapy for high-grade glioma requires a combination of surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy. Although the current standard of care is aggressive and invasive, these treatments offer little salvage for the patients’ quality of life and survival. Patients with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of glioma, have a 5-year survival rate of 5.1%. There remains a desperate need for effective treatments of brain tumors, and especially, gliomas and glioblastomas.
INNOVATION:
UCLA scientists, Dr. Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami and colleagues, have developed a novel zika virus-based oncolytic therapy to treat brain cancer. The researchers harnessed the power of zika virus to infect neuroprogenitor or neuroblast type of fetal cells to exert oncolytic effect on brain tumor cells. The zika viral vectors were engineered to possess enhanced safety profile than wild-type virus for treating brain cancer in mice. This novel therapeutic approach can be further translated to the treatment of patients suffering from glioblastoma and other neuroprogenitor-origin cancers.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
•Brain cancer treatment
ADVANTAGES:
•Tumor-specific cytotoxicity
•Enhanced safety profile by removing viral structural components
•Extended survival by complete tumor regression in treated mice group compared to untreated mice group
•Effective in tumor types resistant for EGFR-inhibitor therapy
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:
The study has been validated in a pre-clinical mouse model.