Human tumor slices in the lab predicted patient results better than mice did
Original title: Ex vivo human tumor slices more accurately predict patient responses to an oncolytic virus than in vivo mouse models
How far along is this research?
This is a preprint. Other scientists have not checked it yet, so treat it as an early signal rather than an answer.
This was done in mice and in tumor tissue in a lab dish, not in people.
The short version
A virus therapy shrank tumors in mice, but it did not work on human colon tumor tissue in the lab.
What was studied. Researchers tested a virus therapy called ASP9801. They tried it in mice with colon cancer. They also tried it on slices of human tumors kept alive in the lab, from patient samples.
What they found. In mice, the virus shrank colon tumors in two different colon cancer models. It worked even better when paired with a drug called anti PD1. But on human colon tumor slices, the virus did not work. That matched what happened in patient trials. On human brain tumor slices, it did work well.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Slices of human tumor may be a better way to tell which cancers a treatment can help. That could help researchers pick the right cancer to test in a trial. For brain tumors, this is one reason to keep studying this virus.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean the virus treats brain tumors in people. The brain tumor part was done on tissue in a lab dish, not in patients. No one was treated in this study. This is early lab work, and it is a long way from everyday care. It is not a cure and it is not something you can get now.
Source: bioRxiv (preprint), September 3, 2026 · Read the original
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