Prof. Slavin and his team have recently discovered a new oncolytic virus derived from chicken’s Newcastle disease virus (NDV)
Prof. Slavin and his team have recently discovered a new oncolytic virus derived from chicken’s Newcastle disease virus (NDV). NDV is dangerous for chickens but harmless in man. Different members of the large NDV family are already in clinical use for many years and the potential efficacy of NDV to control otherwise incurable brain cancer, glioblastoma, has been documented.
The first two successfully treated patients, one young man 24 year ago and one young woman 23 years ago are still alive and well after failing every known treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. Unfortunately, clinical efficacy of treatment with NDV could only be documented only in a small fraction of patients treated with NDV although all recipients confirmed that the treatment was harmless. This is why treatment of cancer with the available NDVs has never been considered the treatment of choice for glioblastoma, not as treatment for any other type of cancer.
The new NDV discovered by Slavin in cooperation with Prof. Dan Heller, a virologist that was associated for many years for preparation of vaccines against chicken viral epidemics. Based on the few success stories of the past, Slavin was determined to find a more effective and more reliable oncolytic virus so he approached. Prof. Heller provided Slavin with many viral isolates and Slavin screened many of those against different type of cancer cells available in Slavin’s laboratory.
Surprisingly, Slavin and Heller discovered one new oncolytic virus belonging to the NDV family that was much more effective than any of the available oncolytic viruses. Currently, the new virus is being continuously investigated and prepared in large quantities in Slavin’s laboratory with financial support of Chinese investors for pilot clinical trials currently in progress.