Novel strategy of cancer virotherapy for radical cure of both primary and metastatic tumors

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H03515
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 50020:Tumor diagnostics and therapeutics-related
• Research Institution: Tottori University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Takafumi 鳥取大学, 医学部, 教授 (70432911)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 癌 / ウイルス療法 / 遺伝子治療 / バイオテクノロジー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In bilateral tumor-bearing mice, antitumor activity was assessed by unilateral injection of oncolytic vaccinia virus. The treated tumor and untreated tumor was evaluated as primary and metastatic tumor, respectively. Antitumor effects were enhanced by induction of cell-cell fusion and expression of multiple immunomodulators, leading to potent therapeutic effects on not only treated tumor but also untreated tumor. Furthermore, host cell factors, which regulates oncolytic activity of vaccinia virus, might be considered a promising biomarker to predict its antitumor activity.

Free Research Field

遺伝子治療学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ウイルス療法は、局所療法が全身のがんにも治療効果を及ぼす革新的がん治療法であるが、ウイルスを投与しない転移巣における治療効果は限定的となる。この問題を克服すべく本研究では、ウイルスのがんを溶かす能力を増強する、全身のがん免疫を高める、ウイルスの抗がん効果を予測する新戦略を提案し、がんモデルマウスや臨床検体を用いて、がん原発巣と転移巣の両方の根治を可能にする抗がんウイルス療法になり得ることを示した。