Oncolytic virotherapy of gynecologic malignancies

Objective

Gynecologic cancer is still the third leading cause of cancer death among women in the US. Therapeutics employing novel mechanisms of action are therefore urgently needed. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) selectively infecting and replicating in cancer cells have recently attracted considerable interest as promising anti-cancer agents. Here, we provide an overview of different OVs currently being used for virotherapy of gynecologic cancers and discuss challenges and implications for their future development.

Methods

Relevant literature obtained from the PubMed database by searching for articles including the terms “oncolytic” or “virus”, or “virotherapy” as well as “ovarian” or “cervical” was thoroughly reviewed.

Results

Preclinical in vivo models as well as early clinical trials demonstrated safety and efficacy when targeting gynecologic malignancies with OVs.

Conclusions

While gaining more and more insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms of OVs, virotherapy represents an appealing approach to fight gynecologic malignancies.