Replicating oncolytic viruses represent a promising treatment approach against cancer, specifically targeting the tumor cells. Significant progress has been made through experimental and clinical studies. Besides these approaches, however, mathematical models can be useful when analyzing the dynamics of virus spread through tumors, because the interactions between a growing tumor and a replicating virus are complex and nonlinear, making them difficult to understand by experimentation alone. Mathematical models have provided significant biological insight into the field of virus dynamics, and similar approaches can be adopted to study oncolytic viruses. The review discusses this approach and highlights some of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to build mathematical and computation models that are clinically predictive. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2016, 8:242-252. doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1332 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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