Testing a Virus to Help Kill Pancreatic Tumor Cells

Victor Padilla-Sanchez, Ph.D.; Wikimedia Commons

Could a common respiratory virus be harnessed to kill pancreatic cancer cells from within?

Adenoviruses are best-known to cause year-round coughs, colds, and sore throats, and occasionally the more serious bronchitis or pneumonia. The virus enters cells, where it hijacks the cell’s genetic machinery to make copies of itself and spread. Cancer researchers are hoping this function will work in their favor as they test its use in breaking down the tough outer shell (stroma) of pancreatic tumors, allowing chemotherapy to better reach the tumor.

How Virotherapy Works

Adenoviruses can be changed in the lab to target cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The engineered virus replicates and accumulates in the tumor cells, causing the cells to “burst”—killing the cancer cells and releasing antigens. These antigens can then stimulate immune responses to seek out and eliminate any remaining tumor cells nearby and, potentially, at metastatic sites elsewhere.

VCN-01 is a modified oncolytic adenovirus designed to replicate selectively in cancer cells. Once tumor cells are infected, the virus produces a specific protein that degrades the stroma, allowing chemotherapy to better penetrate the tumor. It also produces tumor neoantigens that can boost the immune response.

How the Trial Works

This phase IIb study will test the effectiveness and safety of VCN-01 as first line treatment in newly diagnosed metastatic pancreatic cancer patients in combination with the standard of care of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine chemotherapy regimen.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two arms of the trial. One arm will receive standard treatment with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel. The other arm will receive VCN-01 along with the gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel.

The trial is open in numerous locations in the United States and Spain. Doctors at each of the trial’s sites will be assessing safety and overall survival, as well as disease progression, and quality of life.

We encourage you to consult your physicians for clinical trials that may be right for you. The website ClinicalTrials.gov provides more details about this trial as well as many others. You can visit the EmergingMed Trial Finder for a list of all active pancreatic cancer clinical trials.

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