Macrophage Delivery of an Oncolytic Virus Abolishes Tumor Regrowth and Metastasis After Chemotherapy or Irradiation
Menée sur un modèle murin de cancer de la prostate, cette étude montre que des macrophages délivrant une grande quantité de virus oncolytiques peuvent inhiber la croissance tumorale et la formation de métastases après une chimiothérapie par docétaxel ou une radiothérapie
Frontline anti-cancer therapies like chemotherapy and irradiation often slow tumor growth but tumor regrowth and spread to distant sites usually occurs after the conclusion of treatment. We recently demonstrated that macrophages could be used to deliver large quantities of a hypoxia-regulated, prostate-specific oncolytic (OV) virus to prostate tumours. In the current study we show that administration of such OV-armed macrophages 48 hours after chemotherapy (docetaxel) or tumor irradiation abolished the post-treatment regrowth of primary prostate tumours in mice, and their spread to the lungs for up to 27 or 40 days respectively. It also significantly increased the lifespan of tumor-bearing mice compared to those given docetaxel or irradiation alone. These new findings suggest that such a novel, macrophage-based virotherapy could be used to markedly increase the efficacy of chemotherapy and irradiation in prostate cancer patients.