Cancer

Cell culture and mouse studies suggest mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) loaded with oncolytic herpes simplex virus (HSV) could help treat the dispersed brain metastases of melanoma. In a human melanoma lymph node metastasis cell line, co-culture with MSCs loaded with oncolytic HSV decreased cancer cell viability compared with unloaded MSCs. In a xenograft mouse model of brain-metastatic wild-type BRAF melanoma, intra-carotid arterial injection of MSCs loaded with oncolytic HSV decreased the numbers of tumor cells and metastatic foci and increased survival. In a xenograft mouse model of brain-metastatic BRAF-mutant melanoma, the HSV-loaded MSCs decreased tumor growth and increased survival. In a syngeneic mouse model of brain-metastatic melanoma, the HSV-loaded MSCs plus an anti-PD-L1 antibody increased survival compared with either agent alone. Next steps include testing the HSV-loaded MSCs in combination with other immune checkpoint inhibitors (see "Dispersing Brain Metastases." BioCentury Innovations (Aug. 17, 2017)).

Amgen markets Imlygic talimogene laherparepvec, a modified HSV type 1 (HSV-1) carrying the gene for granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF; CSF2), to treat melanoma...