Revolutionary Gene Therapy Treatment for Breast Cancer on the Horizon:
Research team moves to human trials
Toronto Ontario, Canada Nov. 7, 1996 ... The first set of
human gene therapy trials for treatment of breast cancer and melanoma, which
mark a revolutionary step in cancer therapy, are set to begin this week
in Toronto.
The trial is the next step in the development of gene therapy using adenoviruses,
a form of common cold virus, and the interleukin-2 gene in the immunotherapy
of cancer. This is a joint project between McMaster University, Chedoke-McMaster
Hospitals and The Toronto Hospital.
Interleukin-2, on its own, has been used experimentally in humans against
a number of diseases, but has significant side effects and gene therapy
is a more efficient way of delivering interleukin-2 directly into the area
of the cancer. Thirty patients with breast cancer or melanoma will be selected
to participate in the trial. They will be in The Toronto Hospital for a
short period following the injection of the interleukin-2 gene directly
into the tumors and then monitored through blood tests and x-rays every
few months.
Reaching the clinical trial stage is a milestone in the five-year process
of developing adenovirus gene therapy using interleukin-2, a protein produced
normally by the body to raise its immune response. The gene was inserted
into the virus at McMaster University by Christina Addison, a doctoral student
working with virologist Frank Graham and pathology professor Jack Gauldie.
The vector has been used to successfully deliver interleukin-2 to cancer
cells in mice, causing tumors to shrink within four weeks and animals to
remain tumor free up to two years later. The development of this therapy
is a joint project between the McMaster group, Keith Stewart, Head of Oncology
Gene Therapy at The Toronto Hospital, and Norman Lassam at The University
of Toronto and Sunnybrook Hospital.
"Gene therapy is a particularly exciting way of treating cancer. While
we are very hopeful that such treatments may one day find a place in cancer
therapy, it should be emphasized that this is a very experimental approach
and the trials we are starting are the first tests in humans," says
Stewart.
Graham emphasized that this advance in cancer therapy would not have been
possible without the long-term support provided to the McMaster Cancer Research
Group by the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) and the Medical
Research Council. Graham, a Terry Fox research scientist, and Addison, a
Steve Fonyo scholar, receive both salary and research funding from the NCIC.
The project was also supported by a three-year grant from London Life Insurance.
"Without support for basic research at Canadian universities this new
type of therapy could not have been developed," says Graham. "This
is an important example of how basic medical science discoveries can be
rapidly transferred into clinical treatments," says Gauldie. The clinical
trial is supported by the gene therapy division of Baxter Healthcare U.S.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Josey Panetta
Public and Community Affairs The Toronto Hospital (416) 340-3303
K. Jane George or Janet Sinnott
Advancement Office McMaster University (905)525-9140, ext. 22169
Janet Sinnott
Advancement Coordinator Faculty of Health Sciences HSC-2E4 McMaster University
(905)525-9140 ext. 22196