Annals of Clinical Trials and Vaccines Research

Oncolytic Virus Innovations

 An oncolytic virus may be a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virions to help destroy the remaining tumour. Oncolytic viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of the tumour cells, but also to stimulate host anti-tumour system responses.   The potential of viruses as anti-cancer agents was first realised within the early twentieth century, although coordinated research efforts didn't begin until the 1960s. A number of viruses including adenovirus, retrovirus, measles, herpes simplex, Newcastle disease virus, and vaccine are clinically tested as oncotic agents. Most current oncotic viruses are engineered for tumour selectivity, although there are present examples like retrovirus and therefore the senecavirus, leading to clinical trials. Herpes simplex virus (HSV) was one among the primary viruses to be adapted to attack cancer cells selectively, because it had been well understood, easy to control and comparatively harmless in its wild (merely causing cold sores) so likely to pose fewer risks. The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutant 1716 lacks both copies of the ICP34.5 gene, and as a result's not ready to replicate in terminally differentiated and non-dividing cells but will infect and cause lysis very efficiently in cancer cells, and this has proved to be an effective tumour-targeting strategy. In a wide selection of in vivo cancer models, the HSV1716 virus has induced tumour regression and increased survival times.

High Impact List of Articles

Relevant Topics in General Science