Strong preclinical data on Oncolytics' reovirus

In the past couple of years, researchers at USA-based Oncolytics Biotech have been developing a harmless virus as a potent cancer killer, but they have also been accumulating data that suggests, in addition to directly killing tumor cells, their reovirus platform may prime the immune system to mount a separate, long-lasting defence against cancer.

Last month, Sheila Fraser of St James' University Hospital in Leeds, UK, reported preclinical data showing that cells taken from a colorectal cancer liver metastases were more susceptible to death many weeks after treatment with reovirus, and long after the virus had cleared the patient's system. These cells, when cultured in the laboratory, also appeared to be vulnerable to re-infection with reovirus, according to the data, which were presented at a conference of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery, held in Cambridge, UK.