Oncovita is the owner of a highly disruptive virus vector technology, the MeasovirTM platform, to produce new oncovirotherapies. Derived from the safe and highly immunogenic measles vaccine virus, with clinically proven oncolytic potential, this platform has a great number of advantages: not only does the virus specifically target and destroy cancer cells, but it also has the potential to elicit an effective and long-lasting anti-tumor immunity.
The measles vaccine virus is naturally oncolytic with a high degree of specificity for infection of cancer cells due to the overexpression of its entry receptor CD46 on the surface of cancer cells. CD46 is an inhibitory receptor of complement used by cancer cells as a defense against attacks from the host immune system. The MVdeltaC virus developed by Oncovita has an increased capacity to induce immunogenic cancer cell death through its strong capacity to activate RIG-I. This cytosolic RNA receptor has recently been demonstrated as critical for responsiveness to checkpoint blockade in anticancer cancer therapies.