ANTITUMOR DRUG BASED ON THE GENE-MODIFIED VACCINIA VIRUS VV-GMCSF-Lact

Abstract

Virotherapy, or therapy with oncolytic viruses, is one of the most rapidly developing approaches to the treatment of a wide range of solid tumors. The article is devoted to the development and study of the properties of the first domestic drug based on recombinant vaccinia virus. The recombinant virus VV-GMCSF-Lact was engineered from Lister strain (L-IVP) vaccinia virus. The cytotoxic activity and antitumor efficacy of the virus against human tumor cells of various tissue origins were shown on cell cultures and tumor models. The drug has successfully passed preclinical studies as a drug against human breast cancer, including a triple negative phenotype. The drug was proven to be safe, well tolerated and pharmacologically effective. It is currently in Phase I clinical trials to study safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in patients with relapsed and/or refractory metastatic breast cancer. VV-GMCSF-Lact is the first Russian antitumor oncolytic virus which received the permission from the Russian Ministry of Health to conduct clinical trials.