Local Treatment for Systemic Effect

Local anticancer therapies, like surgery and radiation, are ineffective if they fail to eradicate every tumor cell and cannot be used in the treatment of metastasis.  Chemotherapy is often limited by systemic toxicity.  Gene therapy provides a tool for highly targeted therapies with limited systemic toxicity and yet the ability to engage the immune system and cancer individualities for antimetastatic effects. 

Additional preclinical studies were conducted to evaluate the use of AdV-tk in conjunction with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, with emphasis on areas where freedom of operation was expected to exist. These studies led to identification of novel properties of AdV-tk and synergistic effects with standard anti-cancer therapies.  Principal among the discoveries were the increased local and systemic anti-tumor effects when HSV-tk gene therapy is combined with radiation therapy (TKRTM) as well as some early data when combined with surgery (TKSTM).  While the data is too early to hold significance, noted Adeno-immuno responses in the laboratory mice after during Advantagene's pre-clinical studies offer some opportunities for further applications.  Ultimately we hope the metastatic impact of Advantagene's TK program could significantly  improve treatment opportunities to patients.

TKR model

Above Pictorial:  PBS depicts a placebo treatment, XRT depicts radiation treatment alone, TK is gene therapy alone, TKR is Advantagene's adjuvant approach to cancer therapy.  Note the metastatic impact of TKR away from the primary tumor.

TKS model

Above Pictorial:  A view of lung nodules after treatment using Advantagene's TKSTM approach ("Ad-tk" group) versus surgery alone ("Control" group).  The metastatic impact of TKSTM away from the primary tumor was notable.