GENE THERAPY: Cancer Killing Virus Patented

Applied Genetics News,  May, 1999  

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Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (3031 Research Dr., Richmond, CA 94806; Tel: 510/222- 9700, Fax: 510/222-9758) has been awarded European Patent No. l.9491077.8 covering methods of treating cancer using replicating viral therapy.

Specifically covered is the use of modified adenovirus, which lack viral proteins that bind to the tumor suppressor protein p53, to treat cancer patients whose tumors are deficient in p53 function. The founder of Onyx, Frank McCormick, director of the cancer center at the University of California San Francisco, is the inventor listed on the patent.

The role of p53 protein is to prevent replication of abnormal DNA during the process of cell division. In normal cells, p53 detects errors in new DNA and either halts the cycle of cell division until the errors are corrected or forces apoptosis. If p53 is inactive, the DNA can continue to replicate even in the face of many errors. As a result, mutations may be introduced that interfere with growth control, causing tumors to appear. More than half of human cancers are deficient in p53 function. Many viruses disable the p53 gene or its product, so that they may replicate undisturbed. The viruses developed by Onyx are genetically modified such that they do not produce the proteins responsible for inactivating p53. As a result, these modified viruses do not replicate effectively in normal cells but do replicate in and kill p53-deficient tumor cells.

"We have filed patent applications throughout the world for protection of our unique therapeutic virus approach," says Greg Giotta, vice president and chief legal counsel at Onyx. "We were granted a U.S. patent for this technology in October 1997."

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