Antiepileptic drug will help in the treatment of cancer
Specialists of the German Cancer Research Center have been studying oncolytic parvoviruses that are safe for humans in order to develop viral therapy for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor, since 1992.
Computer-generated image of parvovirus H-1The study of the safety of glioblastoma therapy with parvovirus H-1 was started in 2011 at the Neurosurgical Clinic at the University of Heidelberg.
You can read about this in the article "Brain tumor will be cured by viruses".
According to one of the researchers, Dr. Antonio Marchini, the results of the clinical study are very impressive, however, unfortunately, the oncolytic effect of parvoviruses is poorly expressed in relation to other types of cancer. Therefore, researchers are currently paying a lot of attention to finding methods to expand their antitumor potential.
Valproic acid, a drug of the class of histone deacetylase inhibitors, turned out to be one of the most promising candidates for stimulants of the oncolytic action of parvoviruses. Exposure to this drug leads to increased transcription of many genes whose activity is blocked by chemical influences. Valproic acid is widely used to treat epilepsy. It has also been demonstrated to be effective against certain types of cancer.
In experiments on pancreatic and cervical carcinoma cell cultures, valproic acid significantly increased the number of malignant cells killed by the virus. In some cases, 100% of the cells were destroyed.
Subsequent experiments on rats with implanted tumors of the pancreas and cervix also did not deceive the expectations of scientists. In some cases, combination therapy provided complete regression of the tumor without signs of relapses of the disease a year after the therapy. In animals that received exclusively viral therapy, tumors progressed even with the introduction of a 20-fold dose of viral particles.
Virologists were able to decipher the mechanism by which valproic acid stimulates the oncolytic action of parvovirus. It turned out that this drug activates the viral protein NS1, which simultaneously accelerates the replication of viral particles and increases their ability to destroy malignant cells.
According to the authors, the synergistic effect of the combination of parvovirus and valproic acid will allow the use of both components in small doses, which will exclude the possibility of severe side effects. In the near future, they plan to continue working on improving the approach and hope that over time it will become a powerful weapon in the hands of oncologists.
Article by Junwei Li et al. A synergistic combination of valproic acid and oncolytic parvovirus H-1PV as a potential therapy against cervical and pancreatic carcinomas is published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the German Cancer Research Center:
Drug activates virus against cancer.
17.10.2013