An enzymatically activatable prodrug of doxorubicin was covalently coupled, using click-chemistry, to the hydrophobic core of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)-methacrylamide-lactate] micelles. The release and cytotoxic activity of the prodrug was evaluated in vitro in A549 non-small-cell lung cancer cells after adding β-glucuronidase, an enzyme which is present intracellularly i...

The replicability of an oncolytic virus is measured by its burst size. The burst size is the number of new viruses coming out from a lysis of an infected tumor cell. Some clinical evidences show that the burst size of an oncolytic virus is a defining parameter for the success of virotherapy. This article analyzes a basic mathematical model that includes burst size for oncolytic virotherapy. The...

Malignant solid tumors remain a significant clinical challenge, necessitating innovative therapeutic approaches. Oncolytic viral therapy is a nonmutagenic, biological anticancer therapeutic shown to be effective against human cancer in early studies. Because matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) play important roles in the pathogenesis and progression of cancer, we sought to determine if "arming" an ...

Oncolytic viruses are a promising tool for treatment of cancer. We studied an oncolytic Semliki Forest virus (SFV) vector, VA7, carrying the enhanced green fluorescent protein gene (EGFP), as a novel virotherapy candidate against unresectable osteosarcoma. The efficiency and characteristics of the VA7EGFP treatment were compared with a widely studied oncolytic adenovirus, Ad5#24, both in vitro ...

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as rare populations of tumor-initiating cancer cells that are capable of both self-renewal and differentiation. Extensive research is currently underway to develop therapeutics that target CSCs for cancer therapy, due to their critical role in tumorigenesis, as well as their resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. To this end, oncolytic viruses targetin...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate a fiber knob replacement strategy to improve infectivity and efficacy of Ad5 fiber chimeric oncolytic viruses for treatment of melanoma and head and neck cancers (HNC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Adenoviral receptors and transduction levels were used to determine the level of infectivity of fiber-modified, green fluorescent protein-expressing, replic...

BACKGROUND Oncolytic viruses hold much promise for clinical treatment of many cancers, but a lack of systemic delivery and insufficient tumor cell killing have limited their usefulness. We have previously demonstrated that vaccinia virus strains are capable of systemic delivery to tumors in mouse models, but infection of normal tissues remains an issue. We hypothesized that interferon-beta (IFN...

Despite the effectiveness of classic treatments and available diagnostic tools, cancer continues to be a leading world health problem, with devastating cancer-related death rates. Advances in oncolytic virotherapy have shown promise as potentially effective treatment options in the fight against cancer. The poxviruses have many features that make them an attractive platform for the development ...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) detected at an early stage has a good prognosis, however, recurrence of the disease is prevalent and late stage CRC (stage IIIC and IV) has observed 5-year survival rates of 28% and 6%, respectively. Oncolytic virotherapy has been explored as a potential treatment modality in cancer therapy for its safety and tumor specificity. We recently reported that oncolytic vaccini...

BACKGROUND Oncolytic virotherapy of tumors is an up-coming, promising therapeutic modality of cancer therapy. Unfortunately, non-invasive techniques to evaluate the inflammatory host response to treatment are rare. Here, we evaluate (19)F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which enables the non-invasive visualization of inflammatory processes in pathological conditions by the use of perfluorocarb...