Researchers engineered a new kind of viral therapy that attacks and kills colorectal cancer cells directly while also activating T cells – the body’s natural cancer-killers. Immunotherapy is revolutionizing the treatment of many kinds of cancer, but for colorectal cancer, success has been limited to patients with rare genetic mutations. To tackle this challenge, researchers at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa engineered a new kind of viral therapy that attacks and kills colorectal cancer cells directly while also activating T cells – the body’s natural cancer-killers. 

These novel viruses, called Bispecific Engager Viruses or BEVirs, are showing great promise in laboratory and animal models. New research published in Frontiers in Immunology shows that intravenously-delivered BEVirs can shrink colorectal cancer tumours, reduce cancer spread and induce long-lasting anti-cancer immunity in several mouse models. 

“These novel viruses could be really powerful because they target cancer cells in multiple ways and they can be personalized for different kinds of cancer,” said Dr. John Bell, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. “We hope to conduct clinical trials to determine if they work in people as well.”

Authors: Crupi MJF, Taha Z, Janssen TJA, Petryk J, Boulton S, Alluqmani N, Jirovec A, Kassas O, Khan ST, Vallati S, Lee E, Huang BZ, Huh M, Pikor L, He X, Marius R, Austin B, Duong J, Pelin A, Neault S, Azad T, Breitbach CJ, Stojdl DF, Burgess MF, McComb S, Auer R, Diallo JS, Ilkow CS, Bell JC."These novel viruses could be really powerful because they target cancer cells in multiple ways and they can be personalized for different kinds of cancer,” said Dr. John Bell. “We hope to conduct clinical trials to determine if they work in people as well.”

Core Resources: Flow Cytometry and Virometry Core, Histology Core, Biotherapeutics Manufacturing Centre

Funders: Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, Terry Fox Research Institute, Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation, CanPRIME/Mitacs, Taggart-Parkes Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Lebovic Fellowship Funding.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa. All researchers at The Ottawa Hospital follow a Responsible Innovation framework for developing and commercializing innovations in a responsible way. Researchers involved in this study hold several patents related to this work and have founded a company to move their research forward.