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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Prostate Cancer / June 2005Reovirus-based therapy called "Reolysin" helps battle cancer
Medical Research NewsPublished: Tuesday, 28-Jun-2005 Researchers are now investigating how to make cancer cells "terminally ill" by giving a common reovirus to patients with various types of cancers. Already in clinical trials, the reovirus-based therapy called "Reolysin" will soon be administered to patients at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York in a phase I trial sponsored by Calgary-based Oncolytics Biotech. "Patients with cancers that have spread beyond their original tumor sites (metastatic) will receive the therapy via systemic, or intravenous administration," according to Oncolytics Biotech's chief scientific officer, Dr. Matt Coffey. "This discovery - that a common virus, even though it does not cause illness, can kill cancer cells - offers hope for a truly revolutionary approach to cancer therapy," says Dr. George M. Gill, Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory at Oncolytics. As described by Dr. Coffey in published scientific journals, including Science and The EMBO Journal, reoviruses are able to replicate only in cancer cells with an activated Ras pathway, without harming healthy cells. The Ras Pathway is instrumental in transferring growth signals to the nucleus of a cell, telling the cell when and how to grow-much like an "on-off" switch. A cell with an activated Ras Pathway, which has lost its ability to "turn off," leads to uncontrolled cell growth. These mutations along the Ras pathway are found in approximately two-thirds of all human cancers. The virus in Reolysin will invade Ras-activated cancer cells, where the virus is able to replicate until it kills the host tumor cell. When the cancer cell dies, thousands of progeny virus particles are released, which then proceed to infect and kill adjacent cancer cells. Dr. Coffey explains the process is believed to continue until all infected cancer cells with activated Ras pathways have been infected and killed by the reovirus - all without causing the nausea, hair loss and other side effects associated with radiation and chemotherapy. "In clinical trials completed to date, patients have not suffered any serious adverse side effects. Novel therapies like Reolysin are beginning to expand treatment options," says Dr. Coffey. http://www.oncolyticsbiotech.com/ knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc Good posting Mr Palmer. It so happens that I'm having my first 5 day stint on Reolysin at St Georges in London on the 25th July. Wish me luck. After 5 years with Pca I'm now hormone refractory, so this is a bit of a last chance. Jamie Medical Research NewsPublished: Tuesday, 28-Jun-2005 Researchers are now investigating how to make cancer cells "terminally ill" by giving a common reovirus to patients with various types of cancers. Already in clinical trials, the reovirus-based therapy called "Reolysin" will soon be administered to patients at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York in a phase I trial sponsored by Calgary-based Oncolytics Biotech. "Patients with cancers that have spread beyond their original tumor sites (metastatic) will receive the therapy via systemic, or intravenous administration," according to Oncolytics Biotech's chief scientific officer, Dr. Matt Coffey. "This discovery - that a common virus, even though it does not cause illness, can kill cancer cells - offers hope for a truly revolutionary approach to cancer therapy," says Dr. George M. Gill, Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory at Oncolytics. As described by Dr. Coffey in published scientific journals, including Science and The EMBO Journal, reoviruses are able to replicate only in cancer cells with an activated Ras pathway, without harming healthy cells. The Ras Pathway is instrumental in transferring growth signals to the nucleus of a cell, telling the cell when and how to grow-much like an "on-off" switch. A cell with an activated Ras Pathway, which has lost its ability to "turn off," leads to uncontrolled cell growth. These mutations along the Ras pathway are found in approximately two-thirds of all human cancers. The virus in Reolysin will invade Ras-activated cancer cells, where the virus is able to replicate until it kills the host tumor cell. When the cancer cell dies, thousands of progeny virus particles are released, which then proceed to infect and kill adjacent cancer cells. Dr. Coffey explains the process is believed to continue until all infected cancer cells with activated Ras pathways have been infected and killed by the reovirus - all without causing the nausea, hair loss and other side effects associated with radiation and chemotherapy. "In clinical trials completed to date, patients have not suffered any serious adverse side effects. Novel therapies like Reolysin are beginning to expand treatment options," says Dr. Coffey. http://www.oncolyticsbiotech.com/ knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc Jamie -- or anyone else; I'm not choosy at this level of inquiry -- what are you hearing about the efficacy of Reolysin (or any other reovirus)? It's something I know almost nothing about, but which may be of use if either of my cancers returns. Superficially, it sounds like something everyone over, say, 30, might take preemptively just in case they have a few undetected cancers sprouting here or there, ESPECIALLY if they already have a diagnosis of cancer. Surely there's more to it than that. For your unenviable case, I hope it works as advertised. I've got to assume I'll be in your shoes in a few years, and it surely makes me glad about some of the choices I made in my life. We all need to impress on our naive friends the necessity and practicality of making more of life's decisions with our ultimate vulnerabilities in mind, even at a fairly young age. I.P. > Good posting Mr Palmer. It so happens that I'm having my first 5 day stint > on Reolysin at St Georges in London on the 25th July. Wish me luck. After > 5 years with Pca I'm now hormone refractory, so this is a bit of a last > chance. According to St Georges it's still too early to tell. I will keep the group posted. Jamie hi jamie - i wish you the best in your treatment. i have seen so much progress in the area of using viruses or their components in fighting different diseases. my wife was in a study using the virus shell casing to deliver the medicine needed to the diseased site. please keep us posted on your results. we are all trying to learn as much as we can about what treatments that are being developed. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc
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