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SAN DIEGO Scientists at the University of California San Diego are conducting a clinical trial to see if genetically engineered smallpox virus can be used to fight liver cancer.

This clinical trial is evaluating a drug already known to be safe as a vaccine. We are applying it as a potential destructive agent for liver cancer, said Tony Reid, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. The goal of the trial is to evaluate if (the vaccine) can extend patients survival through its ability to selectively target and kill cancer cells, cut off the tumors blood supply, and activate the bodys own immune system to fight the cancer.

The scientists hope that Pexa-Vec, a genetically engineered virus used in smallpox vaccine, will slow the progression of liver cancer. To qualify for the randomized clinical trial, liver cancer patients have to be unresponsive to sorafenib, the only drug treatment currently approved by the FDA for liver cancer.

Patients who are eligible for the Phase 2b trial must have a diagnosis of HCC and have been found to be unresponsive to sorafenib, the only systemic therapy currently approved by the FDA.

The trial will compare the survival rate for patients receiving Pexa-Vec with those receiving no drug treatment other than pain management. Pexa-Vec will be given both intravenously and injected directly into the tumor during the 18-week test. Common side effects include flu-like symptoms including fevers, chills and fatigue that generally last less than 24 hours, researchers said.

Experts say liver cancer is the third deadliest cancer world-wide. Of the estimated 22,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease last year, about 16,000 people died.

For more information about this clinical trial at UC San Diego Moores Cancer, call 858-822-5354 or go to http://traversetrial.com.

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Scientists test smallpox vaccine as cancer killer