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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 28 June 2018

Enemy turned ally: Poliovirus is used to fight brain tumors

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer
One of the world’s most
dreaded viruses has been
turned into a treatment to
fight deadly brain tumors.
Survival was better than
expected for patients in a
small study who were given
genetically modified po-
liovirus, which helped their
bodies attack the cancer,
doctors report.
It was the first human test
of this and it didn’t help
most patients or improve
median survival. But many
who did respond seemed
to have long-lasting ben-
efit: About 21 percent were
alive at three years versus
4 percent in a comparison
group of previous brain tu-
mor patients.
Similar survival trends have
been seen with some oth-
er therapies that enlist the
immune system against
different types of cancer.
None are sold yet for brain
tumors. “This is really a first This Aug. 8, 2013 photo provided by Duke University shows Dr. Matthias Gromeier at his laboratory at Duke in Durham, N.C.
step,” and doctors were Associated Press
excited to see any survival Doctors at Duke wanted free,” he said. more than three years ago. Doctors stressed that these
benefit in a study testing to take advantage of the STUDY RESULTS Stephanie Hopper, 27, of were due to the immune
safety, said one researcher, strong immune system re- The study tested the modi- Greenville, South Carolina, response in the brain and
Duke University’s Dr. Annick sponse it spurs to try to fight fied poliovirus on 61 pa- was the first patient treated that no one got polio as a
Desjardins. Preliminary re- cancer. With the help of tients whose tumors had in the study in May 2012 result of treatment.
sults were to be discussed the National Cancer Insti- recurred after initial treat- and it allowed her to fin- One patient had serious
Tuesday at a conference tute, they genetically mod- ments. Median survival was ish college and become a brain bleeding right after
in Norway and published ified poliovirus so it would about a year, roughly the nurse. Scans as recent as the procedure. Two pa-
online by the New England not harm nerves but still in- same as for a small group early June show no signs tients died relatively soon
Journal of Medicine. fect tumor cells. of similar patients given that the tumor is growing, after treatment — one from
MAKING AN ENEMY AN The treatment is dripped other brain tumor treat- she said. “I believe whole- worsening of the tumor
ALLY directly into the brain ments at Duke. After two heartedly that it was the and the other from com-
Brain tumors called glio- through a thin tube. Inside years, the poliovirus group cure for me,” she said. Her plications of a drug given
blastomas often recur after the tumor, the immune started faring better. only lasting symptom has to manage a side effect.
initial treatment. Sen. John system recognizes the vi- Follow-up is continuing, but been seizures, which medi- The planned doses had
McCain is being treated for rus as foreign and mounts survival is estimated at 21 cines help control. “Most to be reduced because
one now. Immunotherapy an attack. When doctors percent at two years versus people wouldn’t guess that there were too many sei-
drugs like Keytruda help explained the idea to Mi- 14 percent for the compar- I had brain cancer.” zures and other problems
fight some cancers that chael Niewinski, it seemed ison group. At three years, SIDE EFFECTS at the higher doses initially
spread to the brain but a feat “like putting a man survival was still 21 percent The treatment causes a chosen.
have not worked well for on the moon,” he said. The for the virus group versus 4 lot of brain inflammation, One independent expert,
ones that start there. 33-year-old from Boca Ra- percent for the others. and two thirds of patients Dr. Howard Fine, brain tu-
Polio ravaged generations ton, Florida, was treated Eight of the 35 patients who had side effects. The most mor chief at New York-
until a vaccine came out last August, and said a re- were treated more than common ones were head- Presbyterian and Weill Cor-
in the 1950s. The virus in- cent scan seemed to show two years ago were alive aches, muscle weakness, nell Medicine, said it was
vades the nervous system some tumor shrinkage. as of March, as were five seizure, trouble swallowing disappointing to see no
and can cause paralysis. “I’m pain-free, symptom- out of 22 patients treated and altered thinking skills. improvement on median
survival, but encouraging
to see “extraordinary re-
sponders, a small group of
patients who have done
markedly better than one
would expect.”
The numbers in the study
are small, but it’s unusual to
see many alive after sever-
al years, and suggests the
approach merits more and
bigger studies, he said.q