ArticleClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2025
First-in-Human Clinical Trial of a Small-Molecule EBNA1 Inhibitor, VK-2019, in Patients with Epstein-Barr-Positive Nasopharyngeal Cancer, with Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Studies.
Article in Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Viral persistence and host-state remodeling in virus-associated cancers.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Epstein-Barr Virus-Mediated Apoptosis Evasion in Epithelial Malignancies: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications.Biology · 2026Review
- Design and Optimization of Benzoic Acid Inhibitors Targeting the EBNA1 DNA-Binding Interface.ACS medicinal chemistry letters · 2026Article
- Targeting EBV-associated gastric cancer by lytic induction therapy with nanatinostat.Tumour virus research · 2026Article
- EBNA1 inhibitors reveal CDC7 and POU2F1 as direct functional targets in EBV epithelial cancers.mBio · 2026Article
- EBV Genome Variations and Association With Diseases.Journal of medical virology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms of Epstein-Barr virus-associated autoimmunity: a comparative overview.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Epstein-Barr virus pathogenesis and emerging control strategies.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- The case for targeting latent and lytic Epstein-Barr virus infection in multiple sclerosis.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Review
- Evolving landscape of nasopharyngeal carcinoma therapy.Nature cancer · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeA first-in-human phase I study was conducted in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma to assess the safety and tolerability of VK-2019, a small-molecule selective inhibitor of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1). PATIENTS AND
methodsPharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies were performed, including the measurement of EBV DNA plasma levels. Twenty-three patients received VK-2019 orally once daily at doses ranging from 60 to 1,800 mg using an accelerated titration design, with cohort expansion at 1,800 mg. EBV genome copy number and spatial transcriptomic analyses were conducted on biopsies collected from three patients at baseline and after treatment.
resultsVK-2019 was well tolerated. One patient achieved a partial response. Pharmacokinetic results demonstrated good systemic exposure, with high intersubject variability. Decreases in EBV DNA plasma levels were observed in some patients. VK-2019 reduced EBV genome copy number and viral gene expression in patient tumor samples and induced changes in immune cell markers.
conclusionsVK-2019 at dosages up to 1,800 mg daily demonstrated an acceptable safety profile, achieved micromolar plasma concentrations, and showed on-target biological activity in tumors from patients with advanced EBV-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.