Oncolytic Virotherapy: A Brief Overview

Oncolytic virotherapy is the use of viruses to target a tumor for infection and lysis while leaving healthy cells uninfected. The history of viral oncology dates back to the turn of the 20th century when clinicians observed spontaneous regression of tumors after vaccination with attenuated viruses [1]. Experiments were done in the 1950s using Picornaviruses but soon fell out of favour to chemotherapies and radiation. Further studies into the efficacy of viral oncolytic therapy took place throughout the second half 20th century but didn’t begin in earnest until the last two decades. The first viral candidates introduced as possible oncolytic agents were herpes simplex II [2-4] and members of the adenovirus family. Current strategies in viral oncolytics are based on research pioneered in these two viral families and now include viruses from Poxviridae, Picornaviridae, and Rhabdoviridae [2].