Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and most severe type of primary brain tumour, with incidence of 3-4/100 000 persons. GBM is associated with strong immunosuppression, invasiveness and recurrence after therapy. The current standard care for GBM is maximal resection of the tumour combined with radiation therapy and chemotherapy with temozolimide. Despite this intervention, GBMs remain 100% fatal with median survival of only 12 - 15 months. Consequently, there is an urgent need for novel effective therapy.
Among the emerging new cancer therapies is oncolytic virotherapy. This therapy is based on use of viruses that selectively replicate in cancer cells. The mode of action consists of viral replication-caused tumour cell destruction (oncolysis) which is accompanied by immune system attack against the infected cells. In the optimal scenario viral infection in the tumour cells would also lead to release factors (Tumour associated antigens, damage-associated molecular patterns, inflammatory cytokines, chemokines etc.) needed to educate the patient’s immune system to recognize and destroy also non-infected cancer cells. This would lead to persistent systemic immunity and complete eradication of otherwise untreatable cancer.
In this project, PhD Miika Martikainen and collaborators aimed to develop oncolytic virotherapy against GBM using an alphavirus called Semliki Forest virus (SFV). The project was based on earlier results in Martikainen’s PhD thesis that indicate SFV as a potent oncolytic agent against GBM.
