2018 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting-Oncolytic Adenoviruses and Immunotherapy for Gliomas

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In the video, Dr. Foyer from MD Anderson discusses his work with the Delta 24 virus, which is a replication-competent virus that targets cancer cells. He acknowledges the contributions of his colleague, Fred Lang, and mentions his work with his wife, Candelaria, and their company Dianetrix. He explains that in the 90s, gene therapy was a popular approach to cancer treatment, but it failed due to the inability to infect enough cells. Dr. Foyer and his team started studying the idea of using oncolytic viruses to replicate and destroy cancer cells. They published a seminal paper showing the tumor selectivity of their virus targeting the Rb pathway. They conducted in vivo experiments and found promising results in immune-deficient animals. Dr. Foyer emphasizes the importance of the immune response in oncolytic virus therapy and its potential as a form of immunotherapy. He discusses the different types of tumors and the need to transform cold tumors, like gliomas, into hot tumors to make them sensitive to immune checkpoint strategies. He also explores the role of immune checkpoints and the potential for combining them with oncolytic viruses to enhance treatment effectiveness. Dr. Foyer concludes by highlighting the importance of immune modulators that are only expressed during viral infection to minimize toxicity.

Asset Caption

Juan Fueyo, MD

Keywords

Delta 24 virus

oncolytic viruses

immune response

tumor selectivity

immunotherapy