Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 357, Issue 9255, 17 February 2001, Pages 525-526
The Lancet

Fast track — Research Letters
Intralesional injection of herpes simplex virus 1716 in metastatic melanoma

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04048-4Get rights and content

Summary

We have previously shown that avirulent but replication-competent herpes simplex virus (HSV) 1716 causes cell death in human melanoma cell lines in vitro and selectively replicates in melanoma tissue in nude mice. We now present a pilot study of intratumoral injection of HSV1716 into subcutaneous nodules of metastatic melanoma in five patients with stage 4 melanoma. Two patients each received one injection, two received two injections, and one received four injections of 103 plaque-forming units HSV1716. In one patient, flattening of previously palpable tumour nodules was seen 21 days after two direct injections of HSV1716, and in injected nodules from all three patients who received two or more injections there was microscopic evidence of tumour necrosis. Immunohistochemical staining of injected nodules revealed evidence of virus replication confined to tumour cells. These findings suggest that HSV1716 is non-toxic and could be of therapeutic benefit in patients with metastatic melanoma.

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    HSV1716 is an oHSV that is attenuated through deletion of the herpes neurovirulence factor ICP34.5. The loss of this factor, which normally counteracts the interferon and protein kinase R (PKR)-mediated shutdown of virus gene translation, restricts HSV1716 replication to cells in which these pathways are disabled (i.e., tumor cells).23 HSV1716 exhibits lytic activity against a wide variety of cancers and has been safely administered in multiple clinical trials, including an on-site trial for pediatric patients.24,25

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