Treating Recurrent Glioblastoma with Modified Poliovirus
Using Polio Virus to Treat Recurrent Glioblastoma (GBM)
This study is currently closed to enrollment.
University Hospitals-Seidman Cancer Center has opened a groundbreaking clinical trial to test a new treatment option for patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) – an aggressive form of brain cancer that can be very difficult to treat. UH is one of just four brain tumor centers in the world that are participating in this Phase II clinical study.
The study seeks to destroy the recurrent brain tumors by injecting them with polio virus that has been modified to target receptors found only on GBM cells (PVSRIPO). Although the virus does kill a small number of cancer cells directly, its main purpose is to trigger an anti-tumor response and prompt the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells.
Phase I of the study, which ran from 2012 to 2017, found that survival rates were significantly higher in patients who received the test therapy when compared to those receiving standard treatments. The Phase II clinical trial seeks to continue this trend and further increase survival times in patients with glioblastoma tumors. In Cleveland, the study is led by Andrew Sloan, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at University Hospitals.
Patients 18 years or older who have been diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM) which appears to be growing after standard chemo- and radiotherapy may be eligible to participate in the study.