REBACIN® as a noninvasive clinical intervention for high‐risk human papillomavirus persistent infection

• Published in: International journal of cancer Vol. 145; no. 10; pp. 2712 - 2719
• Main Authors: Yang, Yi, Meng, Ya‐Li, Duan, Shu‐Min, Zhan, Shao‐Bing, Guan, Ruo‐Li, Yue, Tian‐Fu, Kong, Ling‐Hua, Zhou, Ling, Deng, Liu‐Hong, Huang, Chao, Wang, Sheng, Wang, Gui‐Yu, Wu, Dai‐Fei, Zhang, Chun‐Fa, Chen, Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 15.11.2019; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Biological Products - pharmacology; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Cancer; Cervical cancer; Cervix; clearance; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Genotyping; Health risks; HeLa Cells; HPV; Human papillomavirus; Human papillomavirus 16 - drug effects; Human papillomavirus 16 - pathogenicity; Humans; Infections; Lesions; Medical research; Mice; Middle Aged; Oncogene Proteins, Viral - antagonists & inhibitors; Papillomavirus E7 Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Papillomavirus Infections - drug therapy; Papillomavirus Infections - virology; Persistent infection; REBACIN; Repressor Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Treatment Outcome; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - prevention & control; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - virology; Viral Load - drug effects; clearance; REBACIN; cervical cancer; human papillomavirus; HPV
• ISSN: 0020-7136; 1097-0215
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.32344

The development of highly sensitive HPV‐genotyping tests has opened the possibility of treating HPV‐infected women before high‐grade lesions appear. The lack of efficient intervention for persistent high‐risk HPV infection necessitates the need for development of novel therapeutic strategy. Here we demonstrate that REBACIN®, a proprietary antiviral biologics, has shown potent efficacy in the clearance of persistent HPV infections. Two independent parallel clinical studies were investigated, which a total of 199 patients were enrolled and randomly divided into a REBACIN®‐test group and a control group without treatment. The viral clearance rates for the REBACIN® groups were 61.5% (24/39) and 62.5% (35/56), respectively, for the two independent parallel studies. In contrast, the nontreatment groups showed self‐clearance rates at 20.0% (8/40) and 12.5% (8/64). We further found that REBACIN® was able to significantly repress the expression of HPV E6 and E7 oncogenes in TC‐1 and Hela cells. The two viral genes are well known for the development of high‐grade premalignancy lesion and cervical cancer. In a mouse model, REBACIN® was indicated to notably suppress E6/E7‐induced tumor growth, suggesting E6 and E7 oncogenes as a potential target of REBACIN®. Taken together, our studies shed light into the development of a novel noninvasive therapeutic intervention for clearance of persistent HPV infection with significant efficacy. What's new? While most HPV infections clear up on their own, persistent infections can lead to cancer. No antiviral drugs are currently available to fight HPV infection. In this paper, the authors tested a proprietary biologic antiviral they developed, called REBACIN®. The drug successfully eliminated HPV infection in 60% of treated patients, while in the control group only 20% of infections cleared on their own. All patients began the trial with high‐risk HPV infection lasting one year or more. The authors also found that REBACIN® inhibited mRNA transcription of HPV oncogenes E6/E7 and reduced E6/E7‐stimulated tumor growth in mice.