Oncolytic

Viruses
By Maddie Krocak & Zach Fissel

What it is & how it works

What it is & how it works

Virus that infects and kills cancer cells while not harming normal
cont...
tissue
form of immunotherapy
viruses such as adenovirus, reovirus, and herpes simplex have
already been tested as oncolytic agents
have the potential to treat cancers that have been unresponsive to
other treatment modalities
can be injected directly into tumor bed or infused into bloodstream

Research and development

The study of
Oncolyticyears
Viruses has been around for close to 15 years
over
the
Phase III clinical trials just began in the last 5 years
First thought to only treat cancers of the blood, but many
developments have lead to treating hard tumors as well
Many large institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, Duke University, and
John Hopkins have made major advances in this area of treatment

Clinical research and

Duke University- used a modified version of the Polio Virus to treat
studies
Glioblastoma
Genelux Trials- Treated 18 pts with Head and Neck cancers with the
Vaccinia (cowpox) virus
PsiOxus- Did not modify a virus, but instead, made its own. Showing
promise in treating resistant Ovarian cancers

cancers it is proven to
poliovirus: able
to selectively destroy malignant glioma cells
work
with
Seneca Virus: being developed by Neotropix, has the ability to treat small
cell lung cancer and a variety of solid pediatric tumors
Talimogene Laherparepvec (T-VEC): treats melanoma
Disabled HIV: therapeutically used for leukemia
Reolysin: developed by Oncolytics Biotech, can be used against ovarian
cancer

Side Effects
Mild, flu like symptoms
feeling of fullness in the abdomen
low grade fever
cytokine Storm: response by the immune system causing difficulty
breathing and organ damage.
these treatments are still highly experimental, with not a lot of
knowledge on all potential side effects

Works Cited
Cohn, D. (2015). Innovations in science. Stand up to cancer. retreived from:
http://www.standup2cancer.org/innovations_in_science/view/virus_therapy
NCI staff. (2015). Oncolytic virus therapy shows benefit in patients with melanoma. National Cancer Institute.
Retrieved from: http://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/oncolyticvirus-melanoma
N.a. (2014). How modified HIV cells are being used to treat cancer. The week. Retreived from:
http://www.theweek.co.uk/health-science/61311/how-modified-hiv-cells-are-being-used-to-treat-cancer
Loskog, A. (2015). Immunostimulatory Gene Therapy Using Oncolytic Viruses as Vehicles. Viruses (1999-4915), 7(11), 5780-5791.
doi:10.3390/v7112899
Woller, N., Grlevik, E., Ureche, C., Schumacher, A., & Khnel, F. (2014). Oncolytic viruses as anticancer vaccines.Frontiers In
Oncology, 41-13. doi:10.3389/fonc.2014.00188