PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Virus combination effective against deadly brain tumor, Moffitt Cancer Center study shows

Myxoma virotherapy-immune suppressant mix may overcome glioblastoma multiforme drug resistance

2013-06-20
(Press-News.org) A combination of the myxoma virus and the immune suppressant rapamycin can kill glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and deadliest malignant brain tumor, according to Moffitt Cancer Center research. Peter A. Forsyth, M.D., of Moffitt's Neuro-Oncology Program, says the combination has been shown to infect and kill both brain cancer stem cells and differentiated compartments of glioblastoma multiforme.

The finding means that barriers to treating the disease, such as resistance to the drug temozolomide, may be overcome. The study, by Forsyth and colleagues in Canada, Texas and Florida, appeared in a recent issue of Neuro-Oncology.

"Although temozolomide improves survival for patients with glioblastoma multiforme, drug resistance is a significant obstacle," said Forsyth, the study lead author. "Oncolytic viruses that infect and break down cancer cells offer promising possibilities for overcoming resistance to targeted therapies."

The authors note that oncolytic viruses have the potential to provoke a multipronged attack on a tumor, with the potential to kill cancer cells directly through viral infection and possibly through inducing the immune system to attack the tumor. The multipronged approach might get around some of the classical resistance mechanisms that have plagued both targeted therapies and conventional chemotherapies.

Several oncolytic viruses, both alone or in combination with small molecule inhibitors, have been tested and show promise for malignant gliomas. However, most have not been effective in killing cancer cells. Two likely obstacles may be the patient's own anti-viral immune response and limited virus distribution.

"Based on our previous work with myxoma virus, we considered it to be an excellent oncolytic virus candidate against brain cancer stem cells," explained Forsyth.

The researchers found that brain cancer stem cells were susceptible to myxoma virus in the laboratory cultures (in vitro) and in animal models (in vivo), including in temozolomide-resistant cell lines.

"We also found that myxoma virus with rapamycin is a potentially useful combination. The idea that cancer cells can be killed by a harmless virus is an exciting prospect for therapy," Forsyth said.

The precise mechanism rapamycin uses to enhance infection in brain cancer stem cells is unknown, and the combination therapy does not result in cures. However, researchers are investigating other drugs that may improve the effectiveness of myxoma virus when used in combination, and they are evaluating the use of other strains of myxoma virus that might be more effective.

"Although our study adds myxoma virus to the list of oncolytic viruses capable of infecting and killing these cells, which strengthens its candidacy for clinical application, our model will need clinical application to determine its safety for patients," concluded the authors. "We expect that intracranial injections of myxoma virus will be safe based on our extensive preclinical work and the demonstrated safety of other oncolytic viruses in clinical trials."

### This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI080607, R21 CA149869, and R01 CA138541).

Researchers from the University of Florida, University of Calgary, University of Texas and Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre Research Laboratories contributed to this work and publication.

About Moffitt Cancer Center Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.

Media release by Florida Science Communications


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Making a beeline for the nectar

2013-06-20
Bumblebees searching for nectar go for signposts on flowers rather than the bull's eye. A new study, by Levente Orbán and Catherine Plowright from the University of Ottawa in Canada, shows that the markings at the center of a flower are not as important as the markings that will direct the bees to the center. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature. The first time bees go out looking for nectar, which visual stimuli do they use to identify that first flower that will provide them with the reward they are looking ...

Scientists design a potential drug compound that attacks Parkinson's disease on 2 fronts

2013-06-20
JUPITER, FL-- Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a compound that could counter Parkinson's disease in two ways at once. In a new study published recently online ahead of print by the journal ACS Chemical Biology, the scientists describe a "dual inhibitor"- two compounds in a single molecule-- that attacks a pair of proteins closely associated with development of Parkinson's disease. "In general, these two enzymes amplify the effect of each other," said team leader Phil LoGrasso, a TSRI professor who has been a pioneer ...

Total amount of exercise important, not frequency, research shows

2013-06-20
A new study by Queen's University researchers has determined that adults who accumulated 150 minutes of exercise on a few days of the week were not any less healthy than adults who exercised more frequently throughout the week. Ian Janssen and his graduate student Janine Clarke studied 2,324 adults from across Canada to determine whether the frequency of physical activity throughout the week is associated with risk factors for diabetes, heart disease and stroke. "The findings indicate that it does not matter how adults choose to accumulate their 150 weekly minutes of ...

Goal of identifying nearly all genetic causes of deafness is within reach

2013-06-20
New Rochelle, NY, June 20, 2013—At least half of all cases of deafness that develop from birth through infancy in developed countries have a genetic basis, as do many cases of later onset progressive hearing loss. To date, at least 1,000 mutations occurring in 64 genes in the human genome have been linked to hearing loss. Next-generation DNA sequencing technologies are enabling the identification of these deafness-causing genetic variants, as described in a Review article in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. ...

African-Americans on Medicaid are far less likely to receive living kidney transplants

2013-06-20
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 20, 2013 – African-Americans with Medicaid as their primary insurance were less likely to receive a living kidney transplant (LKT) than patients with private insurance, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study is published on the Early View online edition of Clinical Transplantation. "Living kidney transplantation is the optimal treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease, offering the best quality of life and longest survival," said Amber Reeves-Daniel, D.O., assistant professor of nephrology ...

Particle accelerator that can fit on a tabletop opens new chapter for science research

2013-06-20
AUSTIN, Texas — Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have built a tabletop particle accelerator that can generate energies and speeds previously reached only by major facilities that are hundreds of meters long and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. "We have accelerated about half a billion electrons to 2 gigaelectronvolts over a distance of about 1 inch," said Mike Downer, professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences. "Until now that degree of energy and focus has required a conventional accelerator that stretches more than the length ...

Herding cancer cells to their death

2013-06-20
June 20, 2013, New York, NY and Oxford, UK — An advanced tumor is a complex ecosystem. Though derived from a single cell, it evolves as it grows until it contains several subspecies of cells that vary dramatically in their genetic traits and behaviors. This cellular heterogeneity is what makes advanced tumors so difficult to treat. Publishing their findings in today's online issue of Cancer Cell, an international team of scientists led jointly by Professors Colin Goding from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research who is based at the University of Oxford and José Neptuno ...

Changing ocean temperatures, circulation patterns affecting young Atlantic cod food supply

2013-06-20
Changing ocean water temperatures and circulation patterns have profoundly affected key Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf zooplankton species in recent decades, and may be influencing the recovery of Atlantic cod and other fish stocks in the region. NOAA researcher Kevin Friedland and colleagues looked at the distribution and abundance of important zooplankton species, sea surface water temperatures, and cod abundance. They found that zooplankton species critical for the survival of Atlantic cod larvae have declined in abundance in the same areas where Atlantic cod stocks ...

Critical seconds saved during brain aneurysm procedure with pre-surgery rehearsal

2013-06-20
VIDEO: Surgical Theater aims to allow each and every neurosurgeon the ability to "Pre-Live the Future. " The Surgical Rehearsal Platform (SRP) supports a neurosurgeon's goal of providing patients with the best... Click here for more information. Surgical Theater's Surgical Rehearsal Platform™ (SRP) provided neurosurgeons the opportunity to rehearse a complicated cerebral case before entering the operating room, saving the surgical team critical seconds on a time-sensitive ...

Why jumping genes don't send us into meltdown

2013-06-20
The study reveals for the first time how the movement and duplication of segments of DNA known as transposons, is regulated. This prevents a genomic meltdown, and instead enables transposons to live in harmony with their hosts — including humans. Transposons were discovered in the 1940s by Barbara McClintock, who was rewarded in 1983 with the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Ancient relics of these 'jumping genes', as they are sometimes called, make up 50 per cent of the DNA in humans. They are characterised as 'jumping' because they can change their position within ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Milky Way-like galaxy M83 consumes high-speed clouds

Study: What we learned from record-breaking 2021 heat wave and what we can expect in the future

Transforming treatment outcomes for people with OCD

Damage from smoke and respiratory viruses mitigated in mice via a common signaling pathway

New software tool could help better understand childhood cancer

Healthy lifestyle linked to lower diverticulitis risk, irrespective of genetic susceptibility

Women 65+ still at heightened risk of cervical cancer caused by HPV

‘Inflammatory’ diet during pregnancy may raise child’s diabetes type 1 risk

Effective therapies needed to halt rise in eco-anxiety, says psychology professor

Nature-friendly farming boosts biodiversity and yields but may require new subsidies

Against the odds: Endometriosis linked to four times higher pregnancy rates than other causes of infertility, new study reveals

Microplastics discovered in human reproductive fluids, new study reveals

Family ties and firm performance: How cousin marriage traditions shape informal businesses in Africa

Novel flu vaccine adjuvant improves protection against influenza viruses, study finds

Manipulation of light at the nanoscale helps advance biosensing

New mechanism discovered in ovarian cancer peritoneal metastasis: YWHAB restriction drives stemness and chemoresistance

New study links blood metabolites and immune cells to increased risk of urolithiasis

Pyruvate identified as a promising therapeutic agent for ulcerative colitis by targeting cytosolic phospholipase A2

New insights into the clinical impact of IKBKG mutations: Understanding the mechanisms behind rare immunodeficiency syndromes

Displays, imaging and sensing: New blue fluorophore breaks efficiency records in both solids and solutions

Sugar, the hidden thermostat in plants

Personality can explain why some CEOs earn higher salaries

This puzzle game shows kids how they’re smarter than AI

Study suggests remembrances of dead played role in rise of architecture in Andean region

Brain stimulation can boost math learning in people with weaker neural connections

Inhibiting enzyme could halt cell death in Parkinson’s disease, study finds

Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning

UNDER EMBARGO: Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning

Scientists target ‘molecular machine’ in the war against antimicrobial resistance

Extending classical CNOP method for deep-learning atmospheric and oceanic forecasting

[Press-News.org] Virus combination effective against deadly brain tumor, Moffitt Cancer Center study shows
Myxoma virotherapy-immune suppressant mix may overcome glioblastoma multiforme drug resistance