Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality changes, nausea, and symptoms similar to those of a stroke. Symptoms often worsen rapidly and may progress to unconsciousness.
An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virions to help destroy the remaining tumour. Oncolytic viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of the tumour cells, but also to stimulate host anti-tumour immune system responses. Oncolytic viruses also have the ability to affect the tumor micro-environment in multiple ways.
Virotherapy is a treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases. There are three main branches of virotherapy: anti-cancer oncolytic viruses, viral vectors for gene therapy and viral immunotherapy. These branches use three different types of treatment methods: gene overexpression, gene knockout, and suicide gene delivery. Gene overexpression adds genetic sequences that compensate for low to zero levels of needed gene expression. Gene knockout uses RNA methods to silence or reduce expression of disease-causing genes. Suicide gene delivery introduces genetic sequences that induce an apoptotic response in cells, usually to kill cancerous growths. In a slightly different context, virotherapy can also refer more broadly to the use of viruses to treat certain medical conditions by killing pathogens.
Professor David James Kerr CBE is a British Cancer Researcher. His primary area of research is treatment and management of colorectal cancer.
Hani Gabra PhD FRCPE FRCP is a British oncologist and Professor Emeritus in Medical Oncology at Imperial College London.
Wolfram Samlowski is an American medical oncologist with Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada (CCCN) and a member of the Research Developmental Therapeutics and Genitourinary Committees for US Oncology. His research interests include translational research and development of novel cancer immunotherapy agents, translational drug development as well as gene therapy. His clinical interests are in developing more effective treatments for advanced stages of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and renal cancer.
Talimogene laherparepvec, sold under the brand name Imlygic, is a biopharmaceutical medication used to treat melanoma that cannot be operated on; it is injected directly into a subset of lesions which generates a systemic immune response against the recipient's cancer. The final four year analysis from the pivotal phase 3 study upon which TVEC was approved by the FDA showed a 31.5% response rate with a 16.9% complete response (CR) rate. There was also a substantial and statistically significant survival benefit in patients with earlier metastatic disease and in patients who hadn't received prior systemic treatment for melanoma. The earlier stage group had a reduction in the risk of death of approximately 50% with one in four patients appearing to have met, or be close to be reaching, the medical definition of cure. Real world use of talimogene laherparepvec have shown response rates of up to 88.5% with CR rates of up to 61.5%.
Adenovirus varieties have been explored extensively as a viral vector for gene therapy and also as an oncolytic virus.
The Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre (ECRC), also known as the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre and the University of Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, is a center for basic, translational and clinical cancer research located in Edinburgh, Scotland. ECRC constitutes a part of the Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine (IGMM) and is positioned in direct proximity of the Western General Hospital, where most of its clinical activities take place.
Enadenotucirev is an investigational oncolytic virus that is in clinical trials for various cancers.
Akseli Hemminki July 27, 1973 (Helsinki) is a Finnish specialist in Oncology and Radiotherapy, Professor of Oncology and founder of two biotechnology companies.
Robert E. MacLaren FMedSci FRCOphth FRCS FACS VR is a British ophthalmologist who has led pioneering work in the treatment of blindness caused by diseases of the retina. He is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and Honorary Professor of Ophthalmology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. He is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital. He is also an Honorary Consultant Vitreo-retinal Surgeon at the Moorfields Eye Hospital. MacLaren is an NIHR Senior Investigator, or lead researcher, for the speciality of Ophthalmology. In addition, he is a member of the research committee of Euretina: the European Society of Retina specialists, Fellow of Merton College, in Oxford and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Andrew Louis Pecora is an American hematologist and oncologist involved in research on the use of stem cells and oncolytic viruses to treat diseases, including cancer. He is the CEO of Outcomes Matter Innovations. As of 2020, he is on the Board of Directors Celularity, Inc. (since 2017) and founder and Executive Chairman, COTA, Inc.. Previously, he was chief innovations officer, professor and vice president of cancer services at the John Theurer Cancer Center, part of the Hackensack University Medical Center. He is a professor of medicine and oncology at Georgetown University.
(Robert) Charles Swanton is British physician scientist specialising in oncology and cancer research. Swanton is a senior group leader at London's Francis Crick Institute, Royal Society Napier Professor in Cancer and thoracic medical oncologist at University College London and University College London Hospitals, co-director of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, and Chief Clinician of Cancer Research UK.
Elizabeth Ruth Plummer is a Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at Newcastle University and an oncologist specialising in treating patients with melanoma. Based in Newcastle, she directs the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre, set up by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation to run early-stage clinical trials.v Plummer and the Newcastle team won a 2010 Translational Cancer Research Prize from Cancer Research UK for work using rucaparib to treat ovarian cancer. Plummer was elected as a fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018.
David Argyle BVMS DECVIM-CA (Oncology) FRSE FRSA FRCVS is Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
The MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford is a research institute located at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Founded in 1989 by Sir David Weatherall, the institute focuses on furthering our understanding of clinical medicine at a molecular level. It was one of the first institutes of its kind in the world to be dedicated to research in this area.
Sarah Blagden is a Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford. Her laboratory research is in investigating post-transcriptional mechanisms for ovarian cancer behavior. Her clinical research is in conducting early phase trials in novel cancer therapeutics for people with advanced malignancies.
Bob Löwenberg is a clinical hematologist/investigator. He is Professor of Hematology at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
