JX-594
Encyclopedia
JX-594 is an oncolytic virus
Oncolytic virus
An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and lyses cancer cells; these have obvious functions for cancer therapy, both by direct destruction of the tumour cells, and, if modified, as vectors enabling genes expressing anticancer proteins to be delivered specifically to the tumor...

 that is developed by Jennerex and is designed to target and destroy cancer cells.

JX-594 is a vaccinia
Vaccinia
Vaccinia virus is a large, complex, enveloped virus belonging to the poxvirus family. It has a linear, double-stranded DNA genome approximately 190 kbp in length, and which encodes for approximately 250 genes. The dimensions of the virion are roughly 360 × 270 × 250 nm, with a mass of...

 poxvirus engineered to selectively replicate in tumor cells that have an activated EGFR
Epidermal growth factor receptor
The epidermal growth factor receptor is the cell-surface receptor for members of the epidermal growth factor family of extracellular protein ligands...

/ Ras pathway, but not in normal tissue. The poxvirus delivers a transgene
Transgene
A transgene is a gene or genetic material that has been transferred naturally or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques from one organism to another....

 to the cancer cells that kills them by lysis.
Initially targeted at liver cancers.

Clinical trials

Two Phase I trials have reported results and a phase II trial for primary liver cancer, alone and in combination with sorafenib
Sorafenib
Sorafenib , is a drug approved for the treatment of primary kidney cancer and advanced primary liver cancer ....

 is starting.

JX-594
Phase I results in 23 patients had encouraging results in 6 of 8 high dosed patients.

Early results, in Nov 2011, from a small (30 patient) phase II trial in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...

 (HCC) showed an increased median overall survival of 13.8 months compared 6.7 months for a lower dose (p=0.029).
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