Infection of non-cancer cells: A barrier or support for oncolytic virotherapy?

Victor A Naumenko; Aleksei A Stepanenko; Anastasiia V Lipatova; Daniil A Vishnevskiy; Vladimir P Chekhonin

doi:10.1016/j.omto.2022.02.004

Infection of non-cancer cells: A barrier or support for oncolytic virotherapy?

Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2022 Feb 12:24:663-682. doi: 10.1016/j.omto.2022.02.004. eCollection 2022 Mar 17.

Authors

Victor A Naumenko¹, Aleksei A Stepanenko^{1

2}, Anastasiia V Lipatova³, Daniil A Vishnevskiy¹, Vladimir P Chekhonin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ V. Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, Moscow 119034, Russia.
² Department of Medical Nanobiotechnology, N.I Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow 117997, Russia.
³ Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia.

Abstract

Oncolytic viruses are designed to specifically target cancer cells, sparing normal cells. Although numerous studies demonstrate the ability of oncolytic viruses to infect a wide range of non-tumor cells, the significance of this phenomenon for cancer virotherapy is poorly understood. To fill the gap, we summarize the data on infection of non-cancer targets by oncolytic viruses with a special focus on tumor microenvironment and secondary lymphoid tissues. The review aims to address two major questions: how do attenuated viruses manage to infect normal cells, and whether it is of importance for oncolytic virotherapy.

Keywords: cancer therapy; infection of non-cancer cells; oncolytic virus; secondary lymphoid tissues; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review