Posted: April 07, 2005


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Hepatic arterial infusion of oncolytic
vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in a rat model of colorectal cancer
with multifocal hepatic metastases significantly improves survival,
researchers report in the April 20th issue of the International
Journal of Cancer.


"Viruses that specifically replicate in and kill cancerous, but not
normal, cells are being developed as a novel class of therapeutic
agents to treat cancer,"

senior investigator Dr. Savio L. C. Woo told Reuters Health

Dr. Woo and colleagues at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
report that VSV "can reach and replicate efficiently in multifocal
lesions of colorectal cancer in the liver of rats after vascular
delivery, which led to substantial tumor necrosis and prolongation of
survival."

Control animals began to die of tumor progression in as little as 9
days and all of these animals had died within 19 days. However, VSV-
treated animals survived for up to 24 days. No vector-associated
toxicities were observed and there was no apparent damage to the
hepatic parenchyma.

"With additional improvements on the tumor-killing potential of the
virus through molecular engineering," Dr. Woo concluded, "the virus
can be developed as an effective and safe agent to treat colorectal
as well as other cancers that have spread to the liver, where
prognosis is usually poor."