Fusogenic, Immunogenic & Programmable
Our measles virus technology can be administered either intratumorally or intravesically, and has several characteristics that make it a strong platform for developing multiple oncolytic virus therapies. These therapies are designed to infect and kill tumor cells and enhance a patient’s own immune cells to provide further antitumor activity.
- Fusogenic mechanism: Measles oncolytic virus possesses a unique intercellular fusion mechanism for killing cancer cells. First, it infects and kills cancer cells and subsequently spreads to neighboring cancer cells, fusing them together in a formation of non-viable syncytia (multinucleated cells). The direct-fusion mechanism enables measles to continue to replicate and spread to more cancer cells, increasing the bystander killing effect.
- Immunogenic effects: Diverse cancer killing mechanisms trigger robust anti-cancer immune activity. The cancer cells killed by measles provide the necessary antigens that trigger T cell mediated, anti-tumor responses that destroy additional cancer cells.
- Easy programmability: As a simple RNA paramyxovirus, measles virus lends itself to modification. As a result, the natural anti-cancer activity of measles virus can be safely strengthened and precisely targeted through our proprietary genetic programming technologies.
- Overcoming adaptive immunity: We utilize a weakened strain of measles similar to those used to safely vaccinate more than one billion people over the past 50 years. Many patients have anti-measles immunity from childhood vaccinations, so Oncolytic measles virus can be transported inside carrier cells to the site of tumor to avoid detection by the immune system.
The Measles-NIS Clinical Program
Measles-NIS is our lead clinical asset based on the measles platform. Using proprietary genetic programming technologies, measles-NIS was designed for precision targeting of cancer cells. Measles-NIS is further altered to encode the sodium iodide symporter NIS gene to enable monitoring and validation of virus delivery and infection of tumor cells.
Stacy’s Story
Stacy Erholtz was 40 when she was diagnosed with terminal multiple myeloma in 2004. In June 2013, after many failed treatments, she enrolled in a Mayo Clinic clinical trial to receive an infusion of an experimental attenuated measles virus. The oncolytic virotherapy was engineered to attach to myeloma cancer cells and infect them. Less than two days later, the plasmacytoma tumor on her forehead had disappeared. The other four tumors in her body also resolved, and after a quick round of radiation, she was cancer-free. Stacy has since seen her children graduate and get married. Now, she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren.
Stacy was the first patient to achieve complete remission of disseminated cancer following treatment with an oncolytic virus. Her incredible response to the measles oncolytic virotherapy was a landmark moment that showed what oncolytic virotherapy could achieve. Her survival inspired Mayo Clinic researchers Drs. Stephen Russell and Kah Whye Peng, who had helped to engineer the oncolytic virus, to co-found Vyriad. In the decade since, they have brought together a team of leading scientists and worked with clinical and research partners to bring next-generation oncolytic viruses and targeted genetic therapies to hundreds of patients.