What is reolysin treatment?

• What Reolysin is
• Research into Reolysin
• Is Reolysin available?
• More about trials

Reovirus is a common virus that doesn’t cause any symptoms. We know from research that it can kill cancer cells, but doesn't seem to harm normal cells. Researchers have been testing a new treatment called Reolysin, which is made using reovirus.

A recent phase I study in the UK looked at using Reolysin with radiotherapy. It was a small trial of 23 patients with different types of advanced cancer, including lung cancer, bowel cancer, ovarian cancer and skin cancer. Standard treatments had stopped working for them. They had between two and six injections of Reolysin in increasing doses, combined with either a low dose or a higher dose of radiotherapy. The study mainly assessed whether the combined treatment was safe and found that the side-effects were generally mild. In 14 of the patients their tumours either shrank or stabilised. These results are encouraging, but the study was small and we need further research in larger groups of people to find out more about it and prove whether it is helpful.

Early trials suggested that having Reolysin at the same time as chemotherapy killed more cancer cells than chemotherapy alone. So in a recent trial that took place at 2 hospitals in the UK, people with advanced cancer had Reolysin at the same time as paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy. Another trial is looking at giving Reolysin injections with radiotherapy for advanced cancers. These trials now have all the patients they need, so are closed for recruitment. People taking part had cancers such as head and neck cancer that had continued to grow despite having other treatment. The aims of the trials were to see how well the combination of Reolysin and other treatments worked for advanced cancer. And to learn more about the side effects. We will have to wait for the results to see how much these combinations of treatments helped.

The REO 18 trial is looking at giving Reolysin with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy for head and neck cancer that has spread to other parts of the body or has got worse despite having other treatment. The aim of the trial is to see if having Reolysin at the same time as carboplatin and paclitaxel helps these people more than having the chemotherapy alone.

Reolysin is not licensed for general use and is only available in clinical trials. Trials in the US are looking at Reolysin for different types of cancer, including melanoma, non small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancers, sarcomas, bowel cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and skin cancer.

Visit our searchable database of clinical trials if you want to find out more about Reolysin trials or trials of other treatments. Tick the box for trials that have finished recruiting. In the trials and research section of CancerHelp UK there is general information about clinical trials and taking part in trials.