Oncolytic Virotherapy in Glioma Tumors

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 20; p. 7604
• Main Authors: Rius-Rocabert, Sergio, García-Romero, Noemí, García, Antonia, Ayuso-Sacido, Angel, Nistal-Villan, Estanislao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.10.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Biocompatibility; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms - therapy; Brain tumors; Cancer; Clinical trials; Clinical Trials as Topic; Cytomegalovirus; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA viruses; Genomes; Glioblastoma; Glioma; Glioma - therapy; Glioma cells; Herpes viruses; Humans; Immune response; Immune system; Immunotherapy; Kinases; Oncolysis; Oncolytic Virotherapy - adverse effects; Oncolytic Virotherapy - methods; oncolytic virus; Oncolytic Viruses - genetics; Oncolytic Viruses - immunology; Oncolytic Viruses - physiology; Review; RNA viruses; Tumors; Viral infections; virotherapy; glioma; glioblastoma; virotherapy; oncolytic virus
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21207604

Glioma tumors are one of the most devastating cancer types. Glioblastoma is the most advanced stage with the worst prognosis. Current therapies are still unable to provide an effective cure. Recent advances in oncolytic immunotherapy have generated great expectations in the cancer therapy field. The use of oncolytic viruses (OVs) in cancer treatment is one such immune-related therapeutic alternative. OVs have a double oncolytic action by both directly destroying the cancer cells and stimulating a tumor specific immune response to return the ability of tumors to escape the control of the immune system. OVs are one promising alternative to conventional therapies in glioma tumor treatment. Several clinical trials have proven the feasibility of using some viruses to specifically infect tumors, eluding undesired toxic effects in the patient. Here, we revisited the literature to describe the main OVs proposed up to the present moment as therapeutic alternatives in order to destroy glioma cells in vitro and trigger tumor destruction in vivo. Oncolytic viruses were divided with respect to the genome in DNA and RNA viruses. Here, we highlight the results obtained in various clinical trials, which are exploring the use of these agents as an alternative where other approaches provide limited hope.