Uveal melanoma is a rare type of intraocular malignancy, and half of diagnosed patients will develop metastases within 10 to 30 years, with them being most common in the liver. Despite significant development in melanoma treatment, there is no effective treatment available to prevent or treat uveal melanoma metastases. Oncolytic viruses, such as the ECHO-7 virus, are being studied for various types of cancers and show promising results.
Results:
The results suggest cytolytic activity of the oncolytic virus ECHO-7, strain Rigvir, in the uveal melanoma cell lines MP41, 92-1 and Mel-202.
Link to the official clinical study article:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13104-020-05068-4
Introduction:
Uveal melanoma is a rare disease but one of the most commonly diagnosed intraocular cancers. It is estimated that 50% of patients will develop metastases, mainly in the liver. There is currently no effective way to prevent or treat metastases from uveal melanoma. At the genetic level, cutaneous melanoma and uveal melanoma are different, with cutaneous melanoma primarily affecting the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, while uveal melanoma involves MAPK-activating genes such as GNAQ and GNA11.
Until recently, there was a lack of cell models for uveal melanoma research, but several uveal melanoma cell lines have been developed that possess distinctive genetic characteristics of this disease. The ECHO-7 virus strain has shown cytolytic activity in several cancer cell lines, and the oncolytic potential of several viruses has been tested for the treatment of uveal melanoma, including herpes simplex virus (HSV-1).
Methods:
Seven uveal melanoma cell lines were used for the study, but only three could be successfully propagated in the laboratory: Mel-202, MP41 and 92-1. The cells were grown in culture medium and the ECHO-7 Rigvir virus strain was added at two different concentrations. Cell proliferation was monitored for 96 hours using a live cell imaging system.
Results:
It was observed that the cells of the MP41, Mel-202 and 92-1 lines were detached from the culture surface when the ECHO-7 Rigvir virus strain was added to the medium. This indicates a cytolytic/cytotoxic effect of Rigvir on these three cell lines. Cell growth curves showed an initial increase in the number of viable cells in all groups, but the onset of Rigvir cytolytic activity varied between cell lines.
This study suggests that the ECHO-7 Rigvir virus strain has cytolytic activity in uveal melanoma cell lines, which could have important implications for the development of future treatments for this disease.