An oncolytic virus to blast retinoblastoma
Eyes afflicted by chemoresistant retinoblastoma may need to be surgically removed to prevent life-threatening metastasis. To develop alternative treatments for retinoblastoma, Pascual-Pasto et al. investigated the oncolytic adenovirus VCN-01, which targets cells with dysregulated RB1. They found that VCN-01 can lyse even chemoresistant patient samples in vitro and was effective in mouse xenograft models. VCN-01 was safe in mice and juvenile rabbits. Initial results from the first pediatric retinoblastoma patients treated with intravitreous VCN-01 showed viral replication in tumor cells and no systemic inflammation. These encouraging results support the development of this oncolytic virus to be used for retinoblastoma therapy.
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