Chimera against brain cancer

The Ebola virus was recorded as an assistant in the treatment of a brain tumor

Polina Gershberg, Naked Science

Glioblastoma is the most frequent and, moreover, an aggressive form of brain tumor that develops from neuroglia, auxiliary cells of nervous tissue. It is very difficult to treat glioblastoma, so specialists are actively looking for non-trivial solutions for the treatment of this disease. For example, scientists from Yale University decided to "involve" one of the most dangerous pathogens in the world – the Ebola virus.

The fact is that cancer cells lack the ability to generate an innate immune response against bacteria and viruses. This prompted scientists to think that the same viruses can be used to fight the tumor.

In order to avoid the development of infection, the researchers experimented with so-called chimeric viruses, which consist of nucleic acid and a protein capsid of different viruses or combine the genes of different infectious agents.

In a study published in the Journal of Virology (Zhang et al., Mucin-like domain of Ebola virus glycoprotein enhances selective oncolytic actions against brain tumors), scientists led by Anthony van der Pol studied the properties of such a chimeric vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) containing one of the pathogen genes Ebola fever. This gene encodes an MLD protein (a glycoprotein with a mucin-like domain), which plays an important role in avoiding the virus from the host body's immune response. When injected into the body of mice with glioblastoma, MLD molecules helped target viruses at tumor cells and infect them precisely.

The introduction of the Ebola-VSV oncolytic virus into the tumor leads to infection and death of glioblastoma cells (black). Over time, the infection spreads to other malignant cells. Figure from the press release of Yale University Scientists find ally in fight against brain tumors: Ebola – VM.

The beneficial effect of MLD molecules is that it protects membrane glycoproteins from proteolysis and thereby complicates the process of infection of body cells. Cancer cells lack ligands to bind to MLD, and they remain defenseless against the virus. In addition, a chimeric virus with MLD genes replicates more slowly than a normal unmodified one, and therefore is less dangerous for the body.

According to scientists, the injection of such chimeric viruses can be a good addition to surgical intervention in the treatment of glioblastoma and the prevention of cancer recurrence.

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