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Background of Cancer Therapy

In the last few decades, many targeted therapies have been approved for cancer therapy, however, the treatment of most cancer types is still a clinical challenge. The tumor heterogeneity, the ability to evade immune recognition, the complexity of interactions between tumor microenvironment and macroenvironment do not allow tackling neoplastic lesions. The multimodality treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapeutic drugs, remain the main option for most cancers. However, tumors often became resistant to therapy, and thus, it is necessary to develop new therapeutics to fight cancer. Virotherapy is finally emerging as another promising strategy for cancer treatment.

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Oncolytic Viruses for Cancer Treatment

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are emerging as important agents in cancer treatment. Three OVs have gained approval in different countries for the treatment of several cancer types. Beyond the capability to selectively infect, replicate and lyse cancer cells, OVs are involved in a multitude of events, including modification of the tumor environment and complex modulation of the immune response. Recent advances in tumor cell tropism, pathogenicity, and immunogenicity make OV-based cancer therapy of renewed interest. With the development of modern genetic engineering techniques, efficient strategies have been explored to optimize oncolytic virus construction, to reduce clinical toxicity, to construct efficient delivery platforms, and to increase efficacy, to achieve the greatest therapeutic benefit. More importantly, OVs can be engineered for optimization of tumor selectivity and can be readily combined with other agents. Thus, the OV-based approach to cancer therapy is becoming more and more popular in biological research and biopharmaceuticals. The effectiveness of OVs has been demonstrated in many preclinical studies and recently in clinical studies.