The two viruses being tested in this clinical trial are called MG1MA3 and AdMA3. MG1MA3 is derived from a virus called Maraba, which was first isolated from Brazilian sandflies, while AdMA3 is derived from a common cold virus called Adenovirus. Both of these viruses have been engineered to stimulate an immune response against cancer cells that express a protein called MAGE-A3, but the Maraba virus also achieves an extra layer of anti-cancer activity by replicating inside many kinds of cancer cells and killing them directly. These viruses are manufactured in specialized facilities at The Ottawa Hospital and McMaster University.

"The idea behind this trial is to use the Adenovirus to prime the patient's immune system to recognize their cancer, and then use the Maraba virus to directly kill their cancer and further stimulate their immune system to prevent the cancer coming back," said Dr. Brian Lichty, associate professor at McMaster University. "We're enthusiastic about the potential of this unique therapy."


"We're very excited about this first clinical trial," said Dr. Stojdl, senior scientist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. "We're continuing to push very hard to develop a suite of biological therapies with the goal of launching similar trials tailored to other types of tumours, including brain cancer and several devastating childhood cancers."

Viral therapies are one component of a growing field of cancer research that seeks to use biological materials (including cells, genes, antibodies and viruses) to attack cancer cells and stimulate an anti-cancer immune response. This field of research has been called biotherapy or immunotherapy. Dr. Bell and his colleagues recently launched the $60M BioCanRx network to advance this area of research.

The Maraba virus is an important part of a broad biotherapeutics clinical trial development program in Canada that is combining viruses and vaccines with standard and emerging therapies to treat different types of tumours. Drs. Lichty, Bell and Stojdl and their institutions, in cooperation with the Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust, have formed Turnstone Biologics in order to engage the private sector and to help fund further clinical trials.

"Immunotherapy is a very exciting field of cancer research, with antibody-based therapies showing the most promise in clinical trials so far," said Dr. Derek Jonker, the overall lead for the clinical trial, a medical oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital and a professor at the University of Ottawa. "Viral therapies have also shown promise in laboratory studies, but it is too soon to know what impact they may have on patients. This clinical trial will help us find out and we're very grateful to the patients who have participated."

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