AsianScientist (Sep. 26, 2014) – An international research team has discovered that a drug well-established for treatment of bone diseases is also capable of controlling Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced tumors. The discovery has been published in Cancer Cell.
EBV is a herpesvirus that latently infects most individuals by adulthood. However, immunocompromised patients are at high risk of developing EBV-induced tumors, such as EBV-induced B cell lymphoproliferative disorders (EBV-LPD). EBV-LPD in immunocompromised patients is a serious and life-threatening condition with significant morbidity and mortality and limited treatment options.
In the study, led by Dr. Tu Wenwei, Associate Professor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), it has been found that pamidronate, an established drug used in osteoporosis treatment, can effectively control EBV-LPD by enhancing a type of immunity involving gamma-delta T cell (γδ-T cell).
Experiments on mice showed that only two of ten animals treated with pamidronate developed solid tumors. Of the treated mice, nine out of ten were able to survive for more than 100 days. In contrast, all control mice developed solid tumors, and nine out of 11 control mice died within 60 days.
According to Dr. Tu, “the discovery has provided the proof-of-principle for a novel immune therapeutic approach using pamidronate to control EBV-induced tumors through boosting human γδ-T cell immunity in humanized mouse model and the result will be further tested on human for clinical trial.”
Another researcher of the study, Professor Godfrey Chan Chi-fung, also of HKU said, “This new immune therapeutic approach may significantly reduce the unwanted side-effects and general immunosuppression caused by currently available treatment options”.
The researchers hope that their proposed new application of an ‘old drug’ offers a safe and readily available alternative for the treatment of EBV-induced tumors, because pamidronate has been already used for decades in osteoporosis treatment.
The article can be found at: Zheng et al. (2014) Targeted Activation of Human Vγ9Vδ2-T Cells Controls Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced B Cell Lymphoproliferative Disease.
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Source: The University of Hong Kong
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