Len Seymour
Our research develops anti-cancer viruses that are 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.
Adenoviruses can be designed that are dependent on deregulated cell cycle, dysfunctional apoptosis pathways, enhanced glycolytic metabolism and many others. In this way the virus amplifies itself within the tumour, reaching high local concentrations and potentially infecting all tumour cells. In addition this 'oncolytic' type of cell killing is very inflammatory, providing the possibility to create an anti-cancer immune response. These agents are often known as ‘oncolytic vaccines’.
Finally our viruses can be 'armed' to encode additional therapeutic agents, to be expressed only within the tumour; this provides a simple and versatile approach to targeted cancer therapy using a range of potent biological agents.
Lead Principal Investigator
Research Theme
Selected Publications
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Actin-resistant DNAse I Expression From Oncolytic Adenovirus Enadenotucirev Enhances Its Intratumoral Spread and Reduces Tumor Growth.
Journal article
Tedcastle A. et al, (2016), Mol Ther, 24, 796 - 804
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Under Pressure: Elevated Blood Pressure Enhances Targeting of Tumors by Oncolytic Viruses.
Journal article
Seymour LW. and Fisher KD., (2016), Mol Ther, 24, 204 - 205
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In vivo characterization of the physicochemical properties of polymer-linked TLR agonists that enhance vaccine immunogenicity.
Journal article
Lynn GM. et al, (2015), Nat Biotechnol, 33, 1201 - 1210
Latest News
Professor Sibson secures further MRC DPFS funding
20 October 2020
Prof. Sibson together with her co-applicants Prof. Anthony, Dr Campbell and Prof. Middleton have now been awarded a second MRC DPFS grant, for £3.3 million, to acquire further preclinical data to support the case for clinical translation, to develop the mutTNF production for human use and to undertake pre-clinical toxicology.
Department of Oncology to collaborate with Crescendo Biologics
20 September 2019
The Department of Oncology has signed up to collaborate with Crescendo Biologics Ltd (Crescendo), the drug developer of novel, targeted T cell enhancing therapeutics.
Clinical researchers at Oxford University announce new collaboration with Janssen to detect blood cancers sooner
8 August 2019
The new 7-year research collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen) will study patients at higher risk of developing certain types of blood cancers that arise from the immune system, such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and multiple myeloma, to identify markers that could be used to predict who will go on to develop symptomatic disease.