Intracranial Virotherapy for a Canine Hemangioma

Intracranial hemangiomas are rare neoplastic lesions in dogs that usually appear with life-threatening symptoms. The treatment of choice is tumor resection; however, complete resection is rarely achieved. The patient's prognosis therefore usually worsens due to tumor progression, and adjuvant treatments are required to control the disease. Oncolytic viruses are an innovative approach that lyses the tumor cells and induces immune responses. Here, we report the intratumoral inoculation of ICOCAV15 (an oncolytic adenovirus) in a canine intracranial hemangioma, as adjuvant treatment for incomplete tumor resection. The canine patient showed no side effects, and the tumor volume decreased over the 12 months after the treatment, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging using volumetric criteria. When progressive disease was detected at month 18, a new dose of ICOCAV15 was administered. The patient died 31.9 months after the first inoculation of the oncolytic adenovirus. Furthermore, tumor-infiltrated immune cells increased in number after the viral administrations, suggesting tumor microenvironment activation. The increased number of infiltrated immune cells, the long survival time and the absence of side effects suggest that ICOCAV15 could be a safe and effective treatment and should be further explored as a novel therapy for canine hemangiomas.

Automated summary

This study investigates the use of oncolytic virus ICOCAV15 as an adjuvant treatment for incomplete tumor resection in canine intracranial hemangioma. The results show that the treatment has no side effects and leads to a decrease in tumor volume as measured by magnetic resonance imaging. The patient has a longer survival time and an increased number of infiltrated immune cells in the tumor, suggesting that ICOCAV15 could be a safe and effective treatment for canine hemangiomas.