Oncolytic virotherapy for advanced liver tumours
Journal
Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Journal Volume
13
Journal Issue
7
Pages
1238-1247
Date Issued
2009
Author(s)
Abstract
Introduction Pre-clinical studies Clinical studies Challenges for the use of virotherapy agents in liver tumour treatment Future directions Primary and metastatic neoplasms of the liver account for more than a million deaths per year worldwide. Despite decades of research, effective novel therapies for these cancers are urgently needed. Oncolytic virotherapeutics represent a novel class of pharmacophore that holds promise for the treatment of hepatic neoplasms. Cancer-specific replication is followed by oncolysis, virus spreading and infection of adjacent cancer cells. This process is then repeated. Virotherapeutics target multiple genetic pathways involved in carcino-genesis, and demonstrate activity against apoptosis-resistant tumour cells. This platform can also exploit the advantage of multiple intrinsic anti-cancer therapeutic mechanisms, combining direct viral oncolysis with therapeutic transgene expression. Recent advances in pre-clinical and clinical studies are revealing the potential of this unique therapeutic class, in particular for liver cancers. This review summarizes the available data on applying oncolytic virotherapeutics to hepatic neoplasms to date, and discusses the challenges and future directions for virotherapy. ? 2009 Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Subjects
Clinical trial; Gene therapy; Hepatic neoplasm; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver tumour; Oncolytic virus
SDGs
Other Subjects
animal; article; clinical trial (topic); drug screening; human; liver tumor; methodology; oncolytic virotherapy; pathology; Animals; Clinical Trials as Topic; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Oncolytic Virotherapy
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Type
journal article