Reovirus therapy of tumors with activated Ras pathway.

Human reovirus requires an activated Ras signaling pathway for infection of cultured cells. To investigate whether this property can be exploited for cancer therapy, severe combined immune deficient mice bearing tumors established from v-erbB-transformed murine NIH 3T3 cells or human U87 glioblastoma cells were treated with the virus. A single intratumoral injection of virus resulted in regression of tumors in 65 to 80 percent of the mice. Treatment of immune-competent C3H mice bearing tumors established from ras-transformed C3H-10T1/2 cells also resulted in tumor regression, although a series of injections were required. These results suggest that, with further work, reovirus may have applicability in the treatment of cancer.