By: Fanny Tzelepis Scientific collaboration is increasingly prevalent. Important advances in areas such as cancer biotherapeutics have resulted from combined efforts, complementary knowledge, and technology transfer. When I joined Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo’s laboratory, the immunotherapeutic properties of oncolytic virus were already apparent. In particular, the ability of oncolytic viruses to boost antigen-specific T cells… Read more »
Tag: Oncolytic virus
Ottawa Scientists Cure Aggressive Breast Cancer in Mice with Combination Therapy
By: The Ottawa Citizen A new Ottawa research study shows that “triple negative” breast cancer — a particularly aggressive form of the disease — can be successfully treated in mice with a combination of immunotherapies that weaponize the immune system in different ways. The study was published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, a… Read more »
Finding the sweet spot: A tricky job for the right virus to treat brain cancer
Defeating brain cancer requires a delicate balance. At least that’s how Dr. David Stojdl sees it. On the one hand, Dr. Stojdl is engineering viruses that seek out tumour cells in the brain, infect them and flag them as dangerous — yet don’t infect healthy cells. “Brain tissue is not very amenable to… Read more »
World-first clinical trial for oncolytic virus immunotherapy featured by The National
Last night, CBC TV’s The National introduced its audience to a novel clinical trial currently underway in Canada. The trial has been partially enabled by support from BioCanRx to manufacture the engineered viruses being given to the study’s participants. The clinical trial is testing a new investigational therapy called oncolytic virus immunotherapy, which… Read more »
First cancer-killing virus therapy approved by the FDA
On Oct. 27, 2015, the U.S. FDA gave its first approval for the use of a cancer-killing virus therapy, or oncolytic virus. Specifically, the FDA approved Amgen’s Imlygic, which is generically known as T-VEC, for the treatment of melanoma lesions in the skin and lymph nodes. “This approval is a huge milestone for the… Read more »
Cancer patients treated in world-first clinical trial of Canadian viral therapy
Clinical Trials, Media release Canadian researchers have launched the world’s first clinical trial of a novel investigational therapy that uses a combination of two viruses to attack and kill cancer cells, and stimulate an anti-cancer immune response. Previous research by this team and others worldwide suggests that this approach could be very powerful, and… Read more »
Pancreatic cancer loses viral defences when talking with supporting cells
Media release Ottawa researchers have unlocked a way to make pancreatic cancer cells more vulnerable to cancer-killing viruses, known as oncolytic viruses. Outlined in a paper published today by Nature Medicine, the scientists have discovered how they can exploit the communication, or cross-talk, between pancreatic cancer and a specific cell type that supports the… Read more »
