MTO: a new journal for a maturing field

The association between natural viral infection and remission of cancer has been described for over a 100 years. 1 The clinical observations that microbial infection of tumor may produce direct killing of cancer or through host immune actions are the basis of the field of oncolytic viral therapy. Astute investigators in the 1950's through the 1960's attempted to capitalize on such observations with pre-clinical and clinical testing of natural viruses as anticancer agents. Efforts such as those at the clinic at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center led by Southam or at the National Institutes of Health led by Shimkin elucidated much of the clinical knowledge of onco-lytic therapy that is the foundations of this field. 2 In New York, Dr Southam treated thousands of cancer patients. 3 The field was forced into a hiatus in the 1970's when these viruses proved too toxic at doses effective for killing cancer. This is not surprising, since the most effective oncolytic viruses included very pathogenic viruses such as measles and West Nile Virus. The development of refined methods of genetic engineering of both DNA and RNA viruses has brought resurgence in this field. The last three decades have seen a rebirth of oncolytic therapy exemplified by the E1B-deleted adenoviruses of McCormack 4 and the γ 34.5-deleted herpes simplex viruses of Roizman 5 and Martuza. 6 The current generation of engineered onco-lytic viruses is highly selective for replication in cancer cells. They can also carry genetic payloads encoding other anticancer proteins for deployment at tumor sites. One such agent is already approved in China for treatment of head and neck cancer. 7 It is likely that others will soon be approved in the United States or Europe. This resurgence in virally based oncolytic therapy coincides with mounting enthusiasm in engineered cell-based oncolytic therapy. Recent work in genetically modified stem cells that have tropism and killing activity for cancer, 8 as well as tumoricidal successes both in tumor specific immune cells 9 and chimeric antigen receptor T cells 10 have engendered scientific and industrial interest. This summer, the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy in partnership with Nature Publishing Group will launch the journal Molecular Therapy – Oncolytics (MTO). The new journal signals mainstream acceptance of this maturing field. It will publish papers that involve " engineering cells, viruses, or other microorganisms to combat cancer. " As is the case with its sister Molecular …