Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Using funding from CRUK and Psioxus Therapeutics, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford led by Professor Len Seymour, have recently published a paper in Molecular Therapy Oncolytics.

Researchers from the Department of Oncology have been working on creating a therapeutic virus that can be given to cancer patients intravenously. This anti-cancer virus, known as Enadenotucirev, is able to infect and kill cancer cells, while leaving normal cells unharmed. This approach exploits the natural life cycle of the virus, which lyses infected cells in order to release progeny virus particles, allowing the infection to spread from cell to cell through the tumour. The life cycle of some viruses, such as adenoviruses, is intimately dependent on the activities of the cells they infect, and this provides a range of opportunities to engineer viruses that are only active when they encounter the specific environment of a tumour cell.

Cancer cellsThe research in the paper focuses on the unique way that this virus kills cancer cells. By using up all of the cancer cells energy resources the cell loses control of its ion pumps and swells by forming a blister at its surface. Along with this unusual death pathway (known as ‘oncosis’), the cell also displays an increased amount of warning signals at its membrane when killed by the virus. Increased “come eat me” signals create an immune stimulatory environment which then is able to activate the body’s immune system. 

The work has recently been featured on BBC Radio 4 Inside Science and is available as a download

The paper by Arthur Dyer et al is available here.

Similar stories

Researchers develop easy-to-deploy federated learning system that safeguards patient data

The technique, which builds on recent advances in decentralised machine learning, uses inexpensive pre-programmed micro-computers, making it easy to deploy in hospitals and cheap to scale up.

Festive Science Image Competition Winners

Winners of the Medical Research Foundation's second Festive Science Image Competition, run in partnership with the Medical Research Council (MRC), have been announced today.

Robert Watson Awarded ACP McElwain and Presidents Prize

Dr Robert Watson has won one of three McElwain and President's Prizes from the Association of Cancer Physicians for his DPhil work undertaken with Professor Ben Fairfax.

Prof Anna Schuh launches first private specialised haematology clinic and laboratory in sub-Saharan Africa.

SerenOx Africa aims to address diagnostic gaps for common blood disorders through a testing facility for key underserved patient populations in Tanzania. This facility will also aim to provide early cancer detection for high-risk patients.