The first patient has been treated in a clinical trial that is testing a pioneering virus technology – which originated at Cardiff University – that infects cancer cells, producing an anti-tumour drug from inside the tumour cells.
Accession Therapeutics’ ATTEST trial is a first-in-human Phase 1 study evaluating TROCEPT-01 (ATTR-01) in patients with solid tumours. Delivered by Velindre University NHS Trust and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, the trial is recruiting across leading UK sites, including Cardiff, with plans to expand to Spain. The study is led by Chief Investigator Professor Adel Samson at Leeds University Hospital.
TROCEPT-01 was originally developed at Cardiff University in Professor Alan Parker’s laboratory and licensed to Accession Therapeutics in 2021, which has since advanced it into clinical testing. The Cardiff arm is supported by the Cardiff Cancer Research Partnership, part of the wider Cardiff Health Partners collaboration.
TROCEPT-01 is a precisely engineered oncolytic viral therapy designed to selectively target tumour and metastatic cells while sparing healthy tissue. It has a dual mechanism of action: directly infecting and destroying cancer cells, and delivering a gene that enables infected cancer cells to produce a checkpoint inhibitor, stimulating a localised and potent anti-tumour immune response. The ATTEST trial includes patients with hard-to-treat cancers such as pancreatic, lung, bladder, head and neck, endometrial and cholangiocarcinomas.
Investigators and partners highlight the trial as a major milestone for cancer research in Wales, translating academic innovation into early-phase clinical testing and offering the potential to expand the impact of checkpoint inhibitor therapies for patients with advanced cancers.
Credit: Cardiff University