Virotherapy employing cancer cell-destroying (oncolytic) viruses
Oncolytic viruses (OV) are viruses that specifically replicate in cancer cells and thereby destroy cancer tissues but do not harm normal cells. Due to the triple mode of action of the OV (cell lysis, systemic anti-cancer immune response, local inflammation) and the fact that OV-therapy can be combined with standard therapies (e.g., chemo-/immunotherapy or irradiation), OVs are exciting and highly promising new anticancer agents. Especially genetically modified OVs, which overcome the limitations of 1st generation wild-type viruses, have shown great potential in the treatment of cancer in patients with advanced malignant melanomas and recurrent glioblastoma.
PIs:
