MTH-68/H oncolytic viral treatment in human high-grade gliomas.

Application of virus therapy to treat human neoplasms has over a three decade history. MTH-68/H, a live attenuated oncolytic viral strain of the Newcastle disease virus, is one of the viruses used in the treatment of different malignancies. Here we report on the administration of MTH-68/H to patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive neuroectodermal neoplasm with a poor prognosis, averaging six months to a year. Four cases of advanced high-grade glioma were treated with MTH-68/H after the conventional modalities of anti-neoplastic therapies had failed. This treatment resulted in survival rates of 5-9 years, with each patient still living today. Against all odds, each patient resumed a lifestyle that resembles their previous daily routines and enjoys a good quality of life, Each of these patients has regularly received MTH-68/H as their sole form of onco-therapy for a number of years now without interruption.

Attenuated veterinary virus vaccine for the treatment of cancer.

Attenuated (nonpathogenic) avian viruses have been used as a form of nonspecific immunological treatment for advanced human cancer. For this study, we used Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine MTH-68/N in an open phase II/B, placebo-controlled (26 patients), multicenter clinical trial for the treatment of 33 patients with advanced cancers. NDV (4000 U/day) or placebo was administered by inhalation twice weekly. During the 6-month trial, the size and presence of primary tumors and metastases were objectively monitored at five institutions by radiologists unaware of the type of treatment that was given. Regression of tumor(s) and/or metastases were observed in eight cases treated with virus (vs. none in the placebo group; p < 0.01). Ten additional patients treated with NDV had no further progression of their tumor sizes, whereas tumor stabilization was noted in only two control patients. Objective, favorable responses (regressions plus stabilization) to virus therapy thus occurred in a total of 18 patients (55%) compared to 2 patients in the placebo group (8%; p < 0.01). Two cases of complete remission were noted in the group treated with NDV. Patients receiving virus therapy had a higher rate of survival at 1 to 2 years. Of 33 patients receiving virus vaccine, 22 survived 1 year, compared to only 4 of 26 patients in the control group (p < 0.02). After 2 years, all seven survivors in the study were in the virus therapy group. There were no 2-year survivors in the control group (p < 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)