Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government

Lerapolturev versus Lomustine for the Treatment of Recurrent GBM

Trial Status: active

This phase II trial compares the safety, side effects and effectiveness of lerapolturev to lomustine in treating patients with glioblastoma (GBM) that has come back after a period of improvement (recurrent). Lerapolturev, a form of the polio vaccine, that has been altered to make sure the vaccine cannot cause polio even when injected into the brain. Poliovirus needs to bind to cells in order to infect them. A virus receptor (or binding site) functions like a lock; the virus (the key) binds to the lock, which opens up a cell for infection. Necl-5, the poliovirus receptor, is abnormally expressed and found on malignant glioma cells. This means that polioviruses, such as lerapolturev, can attach to and infect malignant glioma cells. Lerapolturev causes a range of irreversible changes that kill the tumor cell rapidly. In addition, when killed, the malignant glioma cells release offspring virus from the first round of infection, which can then infect other malignant glioma cells and continue to kill the tumor cells. Lomustine is a chemotherapy drug and in a class of medications called alkylating agents. It damages the cell’s deoxyribonucleic acid and may kill tumor cells. Giving lerapolturev may be safe, tolerable, and/or effective compared to lomustine in treating patients with recurrent GBM (rGBM).