Specially Designed Virus Targets and Kills CRC Cells in Mice
Susanne Warner, MD, PhD, an American Cancer Society research grantee developed a "super" virus that attacks colorectal cancer tumors in mice.
The Challenge
Traditional chemotherapy drugs kill all fast-growing cells, including cancer cells and healthy cells. The loss of those healthy cells may cause side effects. Susanne Warner, MD, PhD, from Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Duarte, CA, and her research team have vast experience developing viral treatments that leave healthy cells alone.
Now they’re designing new viral treatments that kill cancer cells, called oncolytic viral treatments. They’re learning these viruses work well in mice when combined with certain types of immunotherapy in a treatment called viroimmunotherapy.
The Research
Warner and her team recently described in Molecular Therapy Oncolytics how they developed a “super” virus that attacks tumors in 3 ways:
- By infecting and killing tumor cells
- By shutting down the blood supply to the tumor, which leads to the death of cancer cells
- By training a patient’s immune system to attack the tumor
In the lab, Warner’s team inserted a gene into the virus that ultimately allows iodine to enter the cancer cell. The combination kills cancer cells more effectively.
It also makes the cancer cells visible on imaging scans, which allows the researchers to watch the tumor shrink as the virus multiplies and cancer cells die. When the researchers tried to re-grow a colorectal cancer tumor in a mouse that had been treated with the virus-iodine combination, they couldn’t.
Why Does It Matter
This research in mice has been promising so far. Warner’s group is hopeful that after more work, they’ll eventually be able to start testing their viruses in humans.
To learn more about Susanne Warner's work, listen to this podcast: Ripping a Hole in Cancer Cell's Invisibility Cloak
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