Exploration of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) as an oncolytic agent for human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive and deadly human cancers. These brain tumors are extremely resistant to all currently approved therapies including surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Each year in the U.S., there are approximately 25,000 newly diagnosed cases of GBM and 13,000 deaths. The median survival rate for GBM patients is one year with aggressive therapy and fewer than 5% of patients survive out to 5 years. Due to the insidious nature of GBMs and the poor prognoses for patients afflicted with these tumors, novel treatment regimens are desperately needed. One attractive treatment option for GBMs involves the use of naturally lytic viruses. Over the past 20 years, many human viruses have been evaluated for their oncolytic potential against GBMs, but until recently only a couple of animal viruses have been examined for their ability to infect and kill human glioblastoma cells. In this study, the animal virus, equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) was evaluated for its oncolytic potential against a series of human glioblastoma cell lines. Results from initial assays show that EHV-1 can efficiently infect, replicate in, and kill glioblastoma cells. Additional studies are underway to examine whether there is a direct correlation between the cellular kinase ROCK1 and EHV-1 infection and/or the invasive properties of glioma cells. Preliminary results show that the expression of ROCK1 differs between specific glioma lines and this difference correlates with EHV-1 infection. Further assays will explore how ROCK1 contributes to EHV-1 infection in these glioma cell lines and whether ROCK1 expression levels can be used as a biomarker for aggressive gliomas as well as a target for EHV-1 oncolytic therapy of GBM.
