Phase I Dose-escalation Clinical Trial of HF10 Oncolytic Herpes Virus in 17 Japanese Patients with Advanced Cancer

Oncolytic virus therapy is a promising new therapeutic method, one of an eagerly anticipated class of biological therapies against cancer. There are many different classes of oncolytic virus. One of these, herpes oncolytic virus, is strongly oncolytic and has a large DNA genome as 150k bp. HF10 is a spontaneous mutant of herpes simplex virus -1 (HSV-1) that replicates within tumors and destroys cancers without damaging normal tissue and organs. Clinical trials of HF10 are underway in Japan and the United States. The first pilot study of HF10 was initiated in Japan in 2003. This study examined the safety and efficacy of HF10 in the treatment of breast cancer and head and neck cancers; the trial also included careful dose escalation studies. In 2005, a clinical trial using HF10 to treat pancreatic cancer was initiated. screened In this Japanese study, 17 patients received HF10 in their tumor sites. A clinical trial in the United States is also ongoing to evaluate safety, tolerability and evidence of antitumor activity in patients with refractory superficial solid tumors. Here, we report the evaluation of the 17 patients treated in Japan. Among the patients, 6 had recurrent breast cancer, 3 had recurrent head and neck cancer, and 8 had non-resectable pancreatic cancer. No severe adverse side effects have been observed, and some therapeutic potential has been reported based on pathological findings, tumor markers, and diagnostic radiography. Those results should encourage further clinical trials of HF10 around the world.