engleski

Preoperative shrinkage of a localized breast cancer recurrence by intratumoral injections of measles and vesicular stomatitis viruses – a case study

Intratumoral oncolytic virotherapy may have promise as a means to debulk and downstage inoperable tumours in preparation for successful surgery. Here we describe the pioneering case of a 50-year-old virologist with locally recurrent muscle-invasive breast cancer who was able to proceed to tumour resection after receiving multiple intratumoral injections of viruses, first an Edmonston Zagreb measles vaccine strain (MeV) then vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana strain (VSV). The intratumoral virus therapy was well tolerated and led to transient pseudoprogression followed by partial tumour remission. Frequent imaging studies and regular clinical observations documenting size, consistency and mobility of the injected tumour demonstrate that both MeV and VSV contributed to the overall favourable response. Two months after the start of virus injections, the shrunken tumour was no longer invading the skin or underlying muscle and was surgically excised. The excised tumour showed strong lymphocytic infiltration, with increase in both CD20-positive B cells and CD8-positive T cells, as well as macrophages. PD-L1 expression was detected in contrast to the PD-L1 negative phenotype before the treatment. Although an isolated case, the study provides a strong rationale for the formal testing of oncolytic virotherapy also in patients with early stage cancer.

Intratumoral oncolytic virotherapy ; breast cancer ; MeV ; VSV

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