PrECOG and Oncolytics Biotech announce a joint study into the use of pelareorep in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
It was recently announced that two companies, PrECOG and Oncolytics Biotech, would be collaborating on a new study in the field of cancer research. The two groups are preparing to begin conducting a new study, the BRACELET-1 (PrE0113) study, for metastatic breast cancer. This proposed study is unique in that the researchers are planning to use the “safe and well-tolerated” virus, pelareorep, to investigate how it can be involved in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer – that is, breast cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. The specific subtype of metastatic breast cancer that the researchers are planning to study the effect of pelareorep treatment on is, ‘hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer’. This type of breast cancer simply means that the cancer cells have receptors for either, or both, of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
Importance of the study
The virus, pelareorep, that the researchers at Oncolytics Biotech are developing, is a safe biological agent that would be injected into a patient’s veins. Pelareorep would work to make the tumour cells recognizable to our body’s immune system so that the cells can be killed. Administration of the virus would make the tumours sensitive to a potential variety of treatment combinations, which would hopefully improve patient outcomes. Immunotherapy, “a type of treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer”, is still in the early stages as a possible treatment option for breast cancer. But, hopefully successful results from this proposed study can help move this treatment option forward, as a viable option for patients with hormone receptor-positive cancers.
Details of the study design are being finalized and will then be sent to the FDA for approval. If all goes well, enrollment of patients to the study will begin in 2020.
Written by Haritha Thevar, BSc
References:
Cancer cells. (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/how-cancer-starts/cancer-cells
Immunotherapy for Cancer. (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy
Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (ONCY). (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.oncolyticsbiotech.com/
Oncolytics Biotech® and PrECOG announce study in metastatic breast cancer. (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/ecrg-oba102119.php
What is breast cancer?. (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/breast/breast-cancer/?region=on
Metastatic Cancer – What is Metastasis? Diagnosing and Treating. (2019). Retrieved 26 October 2019, from https://www.cancercenter.com/metastasis
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