Research:
Testing PIV5 as an oncolytic agent

Many viruses have been successfully used as oncolytic agent for treating various cancers in animal model systems and some of them are in clinical trails. PIV5 viruses with mutation in SH or V proteins induce apoptosis in many cell types including tumor cell lines such as HeLa and A549, a human lung carcinoma cell line, whereas wild type PIV5 causes little CPE in the cells. In preliminary studies, mutant PIV5 viruses killed human metastatic breast cancer cell line MDA-MB- 231 and MDA-MB-435. It is known that cancer cells are often defective in anti-viral pathways and are susceptible to virus infection, whereas normal cells are capable of anti-viral responses and thus immune from killing by oncolytic viruses. We have started to test whether PIV5 mutants can selectively kill invasive breast cancers developed from the MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435 cells in a nude mouse model system.