Professor Joo-Hang Kim, Professor Chae-Ok Yun, Research Team from the College of Medicine Yonsei University's College of Medicine’s Research Team developed a new genetic treatment method that can be applied to many types of cancer. Joo-Hang Kim, MD, PhD, and Chae-Ok Yun, PhD, announced that they have successfully developed a new genetically altered strain of adenovirus which is highly efficient in targeting and killing cancer cells. This research began in 1999 as one of the projects of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy's Program for the Development of New Technology entitled "The Development of Genetic Treatments for Incurable Diseases." The research results were published in the October 18 edition of the prestigious bimonthly Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). One Virus Increased by 10,000 times, Destroys Only Cancer Cells The cancer treatment methods up to now were applicable to only certain kinds of cancer cells, unable to destroy the entire cancer lump, and at times even had the side effect of allowing the remaining cancer cells to increase at an exponential rate. In order to overcome these problems, the Research team of Professors Joo-Hang Kim and Chae-Ok Yun developed a new tumor-selective adenovirus that expresses relaxin, a hormone associated with pregnancy. They found that adenovirus expressing relaxin spread to more cancer cells and penetrated deeper into tumors than the unmodified virus alone. When injected into cancerous tumors, this virus quickly multiplies by 10,000 times in the cancer cells and kills them. More importantly, this new adenovirus can target only cancer cells and does not harm normal cells. Through this research, a new function of the relaxin gene was also found for the first time in the world and was applied in cancer gene therapy. Moreover, this tumor-selective adenovirus has self-perpetuating nature of viral multiplication and secondary infections of adjacent cells, which will ultimately enhancing the anti-tumor efficacy. The research team found that three rounds of injections of relaxin-expressing tumor-selective adenovirus resulted in higher viral spread in the tumor mass and significant inhibition of tumor growth of mice bearing many types of cancer such as cervical cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, and brain cancer Furthermore, this tumor-selective adenovirus increased survival of tumor-bearing mice and completely inhibited lung metastases in mice. Meanwhile, the research team plans to carry out phase I clinical trial at Severance Hospital against head and neck cancer patients early next year in collaboration with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Company. According to the results of this medical demonstration, the clinical trial will be expanded to other types of cancer. Therefore, this will not only provide a huge turning point for cancer treatment but also create major added value as a result of the domestic and international royalties and cooperation deriving from the original genetic technology.