Clinical Trials with Oncolytic Measles Virus: Current Status and Future Prospects

Our plain-English summary of Clinical Trials with Oncolytic Measles Virus: Current Status and Future Prospects, by P. Msaouel, M. Opyrchal, A. Dispenzieri, et al (Current Cancer Drug Targets, 2018).

The study

• Authors: P. Msaouel, M. Opyrchal, A. Dispenzieri, K.W. Peng, M.J. Federspiel, S.J. Russell, E. Galanis
• Journal: Current Cancer Drug Targets
• Published: 2018;18(2):177-187
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 115 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Attenuated Edmonston lineage measles virus (MV-Edm) vaccine strains can preferentially infect and lyse a wide variety of cancer cells. Oncolytic MV-Edm derivatives are genetically engineered to express the human carcinoembryonic antigen (MV-CEA virus) or the human sodium iodide symporter (MV-NIS virus) and are currently being tested in clinical trials against ovarian cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, multiple myeloma, mesothelioma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. This review describes the basic and preclinical data that facilitated the clinical translation of MV-Edm strains, and summarizes the clinical results of this oncolytic platform to date. Furthermore, we discuss the latest clinically relevant MV-Edm vector developments and creative strategies for future translational steps.

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In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors described the laboratory and animal research behind using weakened measles vaccine strains (MV-Edm) against cancer. They also summarized clinical trials, including trials of versions engineered to make CEA (MV-CEA) or NIS (MV-NIS). The article did not study asbestos. In the main text, mesothelioma appeared only as an ongoing trial of MV-NIS given into the chest of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, and no results from that trial were reported. Two cited reference titles concern measles virus and mesothelioma, but the review did not describe their mesothelioma findings. Among the earlier trials it described, an MV-CEA trial in 21 patients with recurrent ovarian cancer reported no dose-limiting toxicities. Its best response was stable disease, in fourteen patients. Median overall survival was 12.15 months, compared with an expected 6 months based on historical controls. An MV-NIS ovarian cancer trial reported stable disease in 13 of 16 patients and a median overall survival of 26.6 months. In a report on 2 multiple myeloma patients, the first had a complete remission lasting 9 months. The authors concluded that early trials pointed to an excellent safety profile.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Review of preclinical research and phase I/II clinical trials of oncolytic (cancer-destroying) measles virus strains
• Who was studied: No new population was studied. The review covered published and ongoing clinical trials, mostly at the Mayo Clinic, USA. These trials enrolled patients with ovarian cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, multiple myeloma, malignant pleural mesothelioma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The review also covered studies in animals.
• Exposure: No asbestos or fiber exposure was studied. The treatments reviewed were attenuated Edmonston-lineage measles vaccine virus strains (MV-Edm), either unmodified or engineered to express human carcinoembryonic antigen (MV-CEA) or the human sodium iodide symporter (MV-NIS).
• Main results:
  • Mesothelioma: the review listed a trial of MV-NIS given intrapleurally to patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma as currently accruing patients. No results were reported.
  • The reference list includes cited works whose titles concern measles virus and mesothelioma cells or mesothelioma virotherapy. The review's text did not describe their mesothelioma findings.
  • In the reviewed MV-CEA trial in 21 measles-immune patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, the best objective response was stable disease, seen in fourteen patients.
  • In the same MV-CEA ovarian cancer trial, median overall survival was 12.15 months. The expected median survival in this patient population, based on historical controls, was 6 months.
  • In the reviewed MV-NIS trial in 16 patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, the best response was stable disease in 13 of 16 patients. Median overall survival was 26.6 months, versus an expected 6 to 12 months.
  • A preliminary report covered 2 measles-seronegative patients with refractory multiple myeloma who were given a single intravenous dose of MV-NIS. The first patient had a complete remission lasting 9 months. The second patient had progression of soft tissue plasmacytomas at 6 weeks.
  • In a trial of an unmodified measles vaccine strain in 5 patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, complete regression of one tumor was seen in one patient, and partial regressions were seen in 4 of 5 treated tumors.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that initial results of completed and ongoing phase I trials pointed to an excellent safety profile for oncolytic MV-Edm derivatives, and that clinical testing indicated promising biological activity.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Clinical Trial, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA), Ovarian Cancer, Myeloma, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Oncolytic measles viruses encoding interferon beta and the thyroidal sodium iodide symporter gene for mesothelioma virotherapy — H. Li, K.W. Peng, et al. (2010)
• Frequent Homozygous Deletions of Type I Interferon Genes in Pleural Mesothelioma Confer Sensitivity to Oncolytic Measles Virus — T. Delaunay, C. Achard, et al. (2020)
• Personalized Oncolytic Therapy: The Next Step Toward the Successful Clinical Application of Vaccine-Strain Measles Viruses for Cancer Therapy? — T. Peikert (2020)
• Regional delivery of oncolytic vaccinia virus: it's time for clinical trials — S. Downs-Canner, D.L. Bartlett (2014)
• Immunotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Current status and future prospects — R.M. Wong, I. Ianculescu, et al. (2014)
• Cancer genomics of lung cancer including malignant mesothelioma: A brief overview of current status and future prospects — S.C. Jhanwar, X.L. Xu, et al. (2020)

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