Researchers in the US and UK are exploring a new type of cancer treatment as part of a £1.1m funded project by combining a herpes virus with a cancer vaccine to cure brain cancer in children.
The project will combine a genetically modified cold sore virus with a cancer vaccine to destroy brain cancer cells in paediatric patients with high-grade gliomas.
Accounting for up to 12% of all childhood brain tumours, high-grade gliomas are rare, malignant tumours that form in the brain or spinal cord.
Currently, children have to undergo treatments initially developed for adults, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which can harm their developing brain.
The project, funded by LifeArc and CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, is being led by the MD Anderson Cancer Center, along with experts from other institutions in the US and UK.
Researchers will use a genetically engineered herpes simplex virus type 1 to enter and replicate rapidly into cancer cells to expose them to the immune system and destroy them.
In a small phase 1 trial, responses to the virus were seen in 11 out of 12 children and increased the number of immunity-boosting white blood cells within the tumours.
Researchers now aim to combine the virus with a cancer vaccine known as SNAPvax to prime the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells and potentially sustain the effects of the virus – a dual effect already observed in non-central nervous system adult tumours.
If successful, the new treatment will be tested in clinics within the next two years and will guide the design of other urgently needed cancer treatments to improve survival rates and minimise long-term side effects for paediatric patients.
Principle investigator Dr Gregory Friedman, paediatric haematologist/oncologist, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, commented: “Our research demonstrates that we can prime the immune system to target a tumour with a vaccine, which then enhances the ability of an altered cold-sore virus to stimulate an immune response against the tumour.”
