In a Phase I clinical trial for recurrent glioma run by the University of Alabama in the USA, 15 patients have received a steady stream of oncolytic reovirus (up to 10^10 TCID50) infused directly into their brain tumour. This novel method of infusion uses convection-enhanced delivery (continuous low-pressure catheter infusion) to deliver virus particles.

The best responses were: 4 patient progressed, 10 patients had stable disease and 1 had a partial response. Some adverse events were reported, but none of these were considered serious.

Overall, reovirus was safe and well tolerated in the brain, and this newly tested method of delivery looks to improve how widely reovirus gets distributed across the tumour mass.

Image credit: NIAID via flickr

Repost from the Stojdl Lab blog.