Oncolytic viruses hold promise as "self-amplifying" cancer therapies wherein a virally killed cell can produce thousands of new viral "drugs" that can kill more cancer cells. Adenoviruses (Ads) are one family of oncolytic viruses. Most human studies have used human Ad serotype 5 (Ad5). Unfortunately, most patients are already immune to Ad5 increasing the likelihood that the agent will be neutra...

Mumps virus belongs to the family of Paramyxoviridae and has the potential to be an oncolytic agent. Mumps virus Urabe strain had been tested in the clinical setting as a treatment for human cancer four decades ago in Japan. These clinical studies demonstrated that mumps virus could be a promising cancer therapeutic agent that showed significant antitumor activity against various types of cance...

Oncolytic virus research got a welcome boost last November when Chinese regulators approved the world’s fi rst oncolytic viral therapy for cancer, Shanghai Sunway Biotech’s genetically modifi ed adenovirus H101. “ It’s fantastic for the fi eld, ” said John Bell , Ph.D., of the Ottawa Health Research Institute in Canada. “ We needed to have something that was a success, and so I think this is a ...

Oncolytic viruses selectively replicate in cancer cells by exploiting biochemical differences between normal and tumor cells. Treatment with epigenetic modifiers such as 5-Azacytidine, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, increases the replication and cytotoxicity of oncolytic viruses in vivo and in vitro. The cotton rat is an attractive animal to study oncolytic viruses, as syngeneic models of b...

Cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide. In spite of achieving significant successes in medical sciences in the past few decades, the number of deaths due to cancer remains unchecked. The conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy have limited therapeutic index and a plethora of treatment related side effects. This situation has provided an impetus for search of novel therapeutic s...

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are unique anticancer agents based on their pleotropic modes of action, which include, besides viral tumor cell lysis, activation of antitumor immunity. A panel of diverse viruses, often genetically engineered, has advanced to clinical investigation, including phase 3 studies. This diversity of virotherapeutics not only offers interesting opportunities for the implementa...

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a promising oncolytic agent against various malignancies. Here, for the first time, we tested VSV in vitro and in vivo in a clinically relevant, immunocompetent mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). Our system allows the study of virotherapy against PDA in the context of overexpression (80% of PDA patients) or no expression of human mucin 1 (...

PARP inhibitors are mostly effective as anticancer drugs in association with DNA damaging agents. We have previously shown that the oncolytic adenovirus dl922-947 induces extensive DNA damage, therefore we hypothesized a synergistic antitumoral effect of the PARP inhibitor olaparib in association with dl922-947. Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma was chosen as model since it is a particularly aggress...

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are an emerging treatment option for many cancer types and have recently been the focus of extensive research aiming to develop their therapeutic potential. The ultimate aim is to design a virus which can effectively replicate within the host, specifically target and lyse tumor cells and induce robust, long lasting tumor-specific immunity. There are a number of viruses w...

The antitumoral effects of oncolytic viruses have generally been limited by inefficient spread of the viruses within infected tumors and by inefficient systemic delivery, particularly in preimmunized hosts. Tumor-selective poxviruses have biological characteristics that may overcome these limitations. Nevertheless, physical barriers within the tumor microenvironment, including the extracellular...