In a few months time, those suffering from skin cancer may find an unlikely hero in their treatment regimen: herpes. A modified version of the Herpes Simplex 1 virus (known for causing cold sores and some cases of genital herpes) called T-Vec has successfully been used to treat melanoma in a phase III clinical trial. That means it’s just waiting for a final okay from the FDA before the Amgen product can hit the market. The results of the trial were published Tuesday in Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Here’s how T-VEC works: It starts with the herpes virus, which is magnificent at proliferating itself within cells and then causing them to burst (that’s where the cold sores come from). But T-VEC has had two key genes removed. These keep it from replicating within healthy cells, which can quickly spot it because of the missing genes. But cancer cells aren’t as savvy, and T-VEC has its run of them.
“This is a first in class agent, a brand new therapy,” Kevin Harrington, Professor of Biological Cancer Therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research said. “But it’s just the farthest along of what we hope will be many more.” Harrington expects the FDA to clear T-VEC within the year, and it could potentially be available to patients right away.
“The next steps are exciting, and already underway,” he said. “The next big frontier will be to combine this with existing immunotherapies. There’s a strong rationale that other drugs on the market could act synogistically with ours.”
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The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Scientists are using herpes to treat skin cancer — and it’s working
