The complex interplay between tumor cells and immune system is becoming increasingly clear, and the clinical efficacy of tumor immunotherapies like immune checkpoint inhibitors has been verified, however, overall, the tumor response rate is not high. New breakthroughs are urgently needed in the tumor immunity field. Oncolytic viruses can selectively replicate in tumor cells to turn "cold" tumors into "hot" ones, strengthen immunogenicity of the tumor microenvironment, and boost immune response; they are expected to become an effective combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors such as PD-1 inhibitors.
1. What are oncolytic viruses
Oncolytic viruses are a kind of virus that can naturally or, after gene editing, specifically replicate in tumor cells to exert the antitumor effect. Oncolytic viruses selectively replicate and proliferate in tumor cells, and cause tumor cell death through apoptosis and autophagic death, etc.; the dead tumor cells will release antigens to trigger natural and acquired immune responses and strengthen systemic antitumor effect.
2. Advantages of oncolytic viruses compared to other immunotherapies
- Selectively replicate in tumor cells to turn "cold" tumors into "hot" ones, strengthen immunogenicity of the tumor microenvironment, and trigger extensive antitumor immune responses
- Have a multi-path killing mechanism, act in many links of tumor immunity, and have broad-spectrum antitumor activity
- Have high safety and small toxic and side effects, which benefits their combination with other immunotherapies and other antitumor drugs
- Have lower production costs and incur less treatment costs compared to cellular immunotherapies such as CAR-T
3. Oncolytic viruses approved for marketing
Sales of the oncolytic virus products approved for marketing are not impressive because their administration route is limited only to intratumoral injection, and more importantly, the monotherapy has a limited response rate, and the approved indication is mainly melanoma, making them uncompetitive compared to the PD-1 inhibitors in that field.
Oncolytic Viruses Approved for Marketing
|
Virus name |
Trade name |
Developed by |
Marketing time and place |
Approved indication |
|
- |
RIGVIR |
RIGVIR |
Latvia (2004), Georgia (2015), and Armenia (2016) |
Melanoma |
|
H101 |
Oncorine |
Shanghai Sunway Biotech Co., Ltd. |
CFDA (2005) |
Nasopharyngeal cancer |
|
T-VEC |
Imlygic |
Amgen |
FDA (2015) |
Metastatic melanoma |
4. International research progress and layout of international pharmaceutical giants in the oncolytic v...
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